October 2021

Well, here we are—19 months since my last movie blog post. The final movie I saw before the pandemic shut everything down (St. Frances) was on March 15, 2020. I've already described how dramatically life on Earth changed literally overnight, so all that's left is to recount what has transpired in the better part of two years that have elapsed since then. Movie-wise, nothing. With thousands of movies available for me to watch on my computer or iPad, you'd think I'd avail myself, but my interest level plummeted. I did continue to watch TV, listen to music and read books. A more or less complete list of the books I read during the pandemic includes: Watching You, The Family Upstairs, Invisible Girl and The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell; If It Bleeds, Later and Billy Summers by Stephen King; The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides; Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir; Close Your Eyes by Rachel Abbott; The Best Friend by Shalini Boland; The End of Her by Shari Lapena; and Playing Nice by J.P. Delaney. Beyond reading, watching TV and listening to music, pretty much the only highlight worth mentioning during the pandemic was that I joined TikTok, first as a viewer, then as a creator. In August or September of this year, a fellow creator inspired me to watch four movies he recommended: 

UNSTOPPABLE (2010)—Train conductors Denzel Washington and Chris Pine must try to stop a runaway train in Pennsylvania before a mass tragedy occurs. Very suspenseful and engrossing, with good performances by both leads, plus Rosario Dawson. (9)

COP LAND (1997)—Sylvester Stallone is a New Jersey sheriff whose town is populated by corrupt cops. Will he tell rat-squad chief Robert DeNiro what he knows about these morally corrupt law-enforcement officers (Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta) and get the crap beaten out of him, or stay silent? The movie is intermittently entertaining, but suffers from too many people (including Sly himself) smoking cigarettes nonstop. (7)

TERROR TRACT (2000) Ever since I was a kid, I have loved horror anthology movies. When I was in middle school, I saw a couple (Tales from the Crypt and Asylum) that captured my imagination, and 1982's Creepshow was Stephen King's contribution to the genre. Since then, I've seen many more, but none have been as impressive. Terror Tract is a TV movie featuring the late John Ritter as a real-estate salesman who's trying desperately to sell a property where some Very Bad Things happened, and those things provide the springboard for three creepy flashback stories. The first involves a jealous husband, his cheating wife, her boyfriend, and an ill-fated murder plot. The second is about a little girl who befriends a mischievous monkey that infuriates the girl's dad (Bryan Cranston). Finally, the third story is about a teenager who has visions about how the people around him keep getting killed. It's all moderately entertaining, done on a shoestring budget; the monkey episode, though quite silly, is really the only memorable thing in it. (6)

CLIFFORD (1994)—I had always been curious about this comedy, which has a great cast, including Martin Short, Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen and Dabney Coleman. Short, who is one of the funniest comedic performers of my lifetime, plays 10-year-old Clifford, who basically drives his uncle (Grodin) crazy with his pranks and misdeeds. The movie was universally panned at the time of release, but I had been persuaded to view it with an open mind. That proved ineffective, as the movie is so relentlessly awful that it almost hurt to watch. For nearly half the movie, the characters are all screaming at each other. It was so sad to see truly talented performers stuck in this dreadful excuse for a film. (1)

This month, I made my first trip to a movie since March 2020. The Pacific Theater at the Grove shopping plaza—which went out of business during the pandemic—reopened this year as an AMC theater. Numerous new films have opened, and I was eager to dip my toe into the cinematic pool. So I saw:

THE FRENCH DISPATCH (2021)—So enthralled was I by 2018's Isle of Dogs that I was super-stoked to check out Wes Anderson's latest concoction. Everything from the director's bag of tricks is on display here: the dollhouse-type pans from room to room, the bright color palette, the quirky characters, the odd dialogue, even the fonts are part of his trademark. Although ostensibly taking place at the office of a New Yorker-style publication headed up by the aging Bill Murray, it's really another anthology film, and the three stories that unfold are all re-enactments of the publication's feature articles. Of the three, I only enjoyed the first one, which is about an artist (Benicio del Toro) who's in prison after committing a couple of murders. While in lockup, his work gains popularity, and his talent ultimately leads to his early release from jail. There's not much to the story, but it is told with a huge amount of humor, imagination and sensuality. The final two stories are total bores, although the art direction is typically amazing. (6) overall. 

March 2020

Because I have numerous contacts in China, due to a language-exchange app I use called Tandem, I started paying attention to the Coronavirus crisis earlier than the average American. I chat with Chinese people every day in Tandem, so I have been hearing stories about the mandatory isolations and school closings on a regular basis since January. Even so, when I began this installment of my movie blog at the beginning of March, I scarcely realized that it might be my last—at least, for a while. It all happened very quickly. The morning that Joan and I saw Saint Frances (March 15), we tried to get breakfast at Western Bagel, as is our customary Sunday-morning routine, and were shocked to find that it was “takeout only”—no customers were allowed to sit down in the place. We were, however, able to sit down at Denny’s, and after the movie, we enjoyed our regular lunch at Black Angus. There are usually very few moviegoers at the Arclight Hollywood on Sunday mornings, but the theater had arranged the seating so that people could only sit in every other row, to encourage social distancing. When we parted, both of us had a feeling that life was about to change, and that it might be our last movie for a while. Sure enough, the next day, all movie theaters in the state closed down. This was the true beginning of our Great Isolation, and one that we obviously all hope won’t last very long. In the meantime… TV: Modern Family is rocketing to its series finale; I watched the first episode of The Stranger and binge-watched Season 5 of Inside No. 9. MUSIC: Listened to a ton of Magnetic Fields and Neil Young songs. BOOKS: Finally finished Close to Home by Cara Hunter, then read Someone We Know by Shari Lapena, and am now nearly finished with Right Behind You by Rachel Abbott. Here are the three movies I saw in March:

THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020)—Jettisoning H.G. Wells’ original story, Universal has fashioned the latest “invisible” movie into a psychological thriller, and darned if it doesn’t improve on the premise! This time out, Elizabeth Moss plays a wife who manages to flee from her abusive husband. After he commits suicide, she begins to suspect that he might not be dead after all, but still making her life a living hell in “unseen” form. An edge-of-your-seat suspense movie from beginning to end, with great special effects. (9)

ONWARD (2020)—I run very hot and cold with Pixar’s animated movies. Some I love (Toy Story 1-3, The Incredibles 1-2, WALL-E), some are overrated (A Bug’s Life, Up, Finding Nemo) and some leave me completely cold (Inside Out, Cars). Onward, this year’s first Pixar offering, belongs in the first category. It’s an old-fashioned adventure story with fun characters and all of the Disney clichés. Much of its success can be credited to the perfect voice characterizations, especially Chris Pratt as Barley Lightfoot. Only debit: It goes on a little too long. (9)

SAINT FRANCES (2020)—I am sure this will win my “sleeper of the year” award. It’s a funny and moving story about a 34-year-old woman named Bridget—sort of a prettier Amy Schumer—who takes a job as a nanny when she’s wholly unqualified for such a job. It’s a charming and romantic comedy/drama written and starring Kelly O’Sullvan, and one of the year’s best. (10) And maybe the year’s last!

NOTE: Yes—it turned out to be the last movie I saw in 2020.

February 2020

This month, I traveled to San Jose to see three shows: South Bay Musical Theatre’s 2020 Hindsight: Songs I [Stephen Sondheim] Wish I’d Written, She Loves Me and Alan Ayckbourn’s farce Taking Steps. Jay was the narrator/host of the first, and attended the second two with me. All were great fun. Almost as soon as I got home, I flew to Miami to attend the boat show, where a lot of little things went annoyingly wrong. I also subscribed to Newspapers.com and launched an ambitious project archiving old comic strips from the 1960s and 1970s. TV: I finished re-cycling through the old Larry Sanders Show and started re-cycling through the old Taxi series. BOOKS: I continued listening to Close to Home—very nearly done! Here are the movies I watched in February:

RHYTHM SECTION (2020)—Decent enough action/spy flick, wherein members of Blake Lively’s family perish in a transatlantic plane crash, and she ends up spending the whole movie hunting down the people who conspired to bring the airliner down. To call it “muddled” would be an understatement (Joan and I couldn’t really figure out what the antagonists’ motives were), and it’s all totally farfetched, eye-rollingly bogus and laughably ridiculous, the way all “ordinary people become highly skilled assassins overnight” stories are. Even so, the movie keeps the fights and explosions coming at a brisk clip, and despite how implausible it all was, it was relatively entertaining. (7)

BIRDS OF PREY (2020)—I needed to kill a couple of hours in South Florida, and this movie was the perfect vehicle to help me do that. I did not see The Suicide Squad, which introduced the world to Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, but I was told that this stand-alone crime thriller kicked off with a cool animated origin story for our comic-book heroine, and it did. In this movie, mischief-loving Harley teams up with a few other women to help protect a young girl from deranged psychopaths Ewan McGregor and Chris Messina. (Messina seemed so familiar to me during the movie; looking him up afterwards, I was astonished to find that he’d played Danny on The Mindy Project!) The movie is mindlessly entertaining, as is the goofy Betty Boop voice that Robbie provides for Harley. (8)

THE PHOTOGRAPH (2020)—Dull, slow-moving romantic drama about a dead photographer (adorable Chanté Adams) and the romance that develops between her grown daughter (Issa Rae) and a reporter (Lakeith Stanfield) who’s researching a story about her. While I enjoyed watching Adams in her flashback scenes, the movie is only occasionally diverting; mostly it’s about as lively as watching paint dry. Nice, jazzy musical score. (6)

THE LODGE (2020)—Good reviews sparked my curiosity about this horror movie about a dad who takes his financé (Riley Keough) and his two young kids to a snowy lodge. The kids blame their dad’s romance for the death of their mom (Alicia Silverstone, who gets to do one of those splattery shotgun suicide scenes like Vincent D'Onofrio did in Full Metal Jacket). Eventually the tension between the kids and the financé leads to a bizarre confrontation and situation that may or not have supernatural overtones. The “big reveal” was extremely far-fetched and soured the movie for me. (5)

DARK WATERS (2019)—When I was quite young, I asked my father how cigarette companies could be allowed to sell a product that was proven to cause cancer. “Well,” he explained, taking a drag on his Kool filter, “that would put an awful lot of people out of work, wouldn’t it? You can’t just suddenly put so many thousands of people out of a job.” That seemed as crazy an explanation to me then as it did when I was watching this movie, which is based on the very same conceit. Dark Waters is all about how Dupont, which employed many people in West Virginia, was poisoning the water supply as it manufactured the chemical used to make Teflon and dumped the hazardous wastes. The company was in the government’s back pocket, the Environmental Protection Agency turned a blind eye, and people started dying (including Dupont’s own employees). One whistleblower and his attorney (Mark Ruffalo) are scapegoated by the community, many of whom stand to lose their jobs if Dupont is held accountable. Ruffalo spends almost 20 years trying to slay this dragon. This is an Erin Brockovich-type drama about how the little guy stands up to the Mighty Evil Corporation. It’s a compelling but very sad movie. (8)

EMMA (2020)—Pretty slow-moving period piece (at least for the first half to three-quarters). Then, thank God, it finally picked up the pace. Fitfully amusing adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel, but the best things about the film are the amazing costumes and Emma’s curly hair style. Anya Taylor-Joy is perfect as Emma. (8)

THE OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORT FILMS (2020)—As usual, I caught the collection of Oscar-nominated short films, both the live-action and animated featurettes. A real mixed bag this year, with only one truly outstanding live-action short (the gripping kidnapping-themed A Sister) and a couple of great cartoons (Sister, Hair Love). In fact, A Sister may be the best film I see all year.

Best and Worst Movies of 2019

BEST  MOVIES I SAW IN 2019:

Jojo Rabbit
Little Women
Hustlers
Official Secrets
Downton Abbey
Booksmart
Wild Rose
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

OTHER 2019 MOVIES I REALLY LIKED:

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
Captain Marvel
Teen Spirit
Long Shot
Waves
Uncut Gems
Marriage Story

WORST / MOST OVERRATED MOVIES OF THE YEAR:

Us
Gloria Bell
High Life
Ad Astra
Toy Story 4

BEST OLDER MOVIE I SAW IN 2019:

My Man Godfrey. Thanks again for the recommendation, Shirlee Hauser!

SORRY I MISSED YOU:

Giant Little Ones (Update: 8)
Midsommer (Update: 8)
The Hole in the Ground (Update: 5)
Ford vs. Ferrari  (Update: 10)
Dark Waters  (Update: 8)
Celemency
The Wind
Alita: Battle Angel 
Crawl
After the Wedding
The Goldfinch
Honey Boy
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Harpoon
The Irishman
John Wick 3
After
The Vanishing
Hotel Mumbai
I Am Mother
I See You
The Souvenir
Jellyfish
Always Be My Maybe
Arctic
Mercy Black 
The Furies
Dolemite Is My Name
Someone Great
Paradise Hills
Stalked
Atlantics

January 2020

The year got off to a good start, with an enjoyable birthday dinner at Santa Monica Benihana (Cindy, Robert and Emma were in attendance). As usual, they inundated me with gifts and delicious food. I acquired a new desktop iMac, which experienced weird sound issue that appears to have been resolved some weeks after I picked up the unit. My left arm and knee started having some weird pain problems, but I’m hoping they’ll go away soon. I wrote a couple of cool songs (“Riding the Merry-G0-Round” and “Find Your Way Back Home,” the first of which is still lacking lyrics.) TV: I binge-watched the first season of Servant. MUSIC: Listened to many songs by Gary Lewis & the Playboys and the Four Seasons. BOOKS: I finished listening to The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell (very good) and am now listening to the audiobook of Close to Home by Cara Hunter. Also, the antepenultimate Complete Dick Tracy collection was released—the one I was most looking forward to. Here are the movies I enjoyed in January:

1917 (2019)—Here’s the first of several 2019 movies I failed to see during the year itself. 1917 has been critically lauded and will likely be up for several awards. It’s a WWI picture in which a couple of young British soldiers stationed in northern France are given orders to deliver a message to a General not to attack German forces because they’re walking into a trap. Of course, the route is rife with danger and peril. There is not a lot of story here, but technically the movie is a stroke of genius, made to look like one continuous two-hour shot—it isn’t, of course, but it’s very convincing. Bombs explode, planes crash, people are shot to death. There, now you don’t have to see the movie. Visually stunning, but I tend to gravitate toward richer storytelling. (8)

JUST MERCY (2019)—Based on true events, this entertaining courtroom drama is about real-life attorney Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan), who fought to win justice for black men unfairly put on death row. Much of the movie is about Walter McMillan (Jamie Foxx), who was wrongly convicted of murder. His conviction was sealed by the testimony of lowlife Ralph Myers, played to perfection by Tim Blake Nelson, who talks out of the side of his mouth. I couldn’t remember where the hell I’d seen this amazing performer before, but a trip to IMDB revealed that he was the runtish singing cowboy namesake of 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, where he was similarly mesmerizing. (9)

UNDERWATER (2020)—Amid a growing catastrophe, a team must trek from “point A to point B” on a mission to minimize casualties. You might think I just described the plot of 1917, but it also happens to be the exact same scenario as Underwater, a disaster movie about how some researchers stationed on the ocean floor must battle unseen forces in order to survive. As it happens, these forces turn out to be sea monsters ranging in size from three feet to a mile-long creature that basically defies credulity. Somehow Kristen Stewart got involved in this confusing undersea adventure, which is often impossible to follow because it’s too hard to see anything clearly. More than anything, it resembles the movie Alien, but it doesn’t have that film’s finesse. OK as a time waster, and the ending was pretty cool. (7)

GIANT LITTLE ONES (2019)—This low-budget Canadian picture earned a 93% on the Tomatometer. It explores the relationship of longtime friends Franky (Josh Wiggins) and Ballas (Darren Mann), high school kids with girlfriends. But when Ballas makes a drunken sexual advance on Franky, everything changes. The movie explores the theme of bullying and closeted homosexuality; it’s pretty good up to a point—quite suspenseful and gripping at times—but I felt a little let down by the wishy-washy resolution. (8)

MIDSOMMAR (2019)—Another movie from last year that got a lot of buzz, but that I’d missed. The reason was really the bloated length: 140 minutes. Perhaps too long to sit through at the theater, but at home I viewed the 171-minute director’s cut. Written and directed by Ari Aster, I knew this was going to be an unsettling cinematic experience, and there are indeed some sinister moments of shock and horror. I’m not sure what was cut for the original release, but the director’s cut is way too long. I think there’s a very good movie in here, in edited form. Florence Pugh and four of her friends (including her dickhead of a boyfriend) travel to Sweden to visit an unusual commune celebrating a special ceremony, only to discover that it’s more of a pagan cult where Very Bad Things are about to happen. Extremely disturbing in parts, but it’s just too long. It did bring to mind another frightening cult movie I’d seen, 2013’s The Sacrament. (8)

A RAINY DAY IN NEW YORK (2019)—Depressingly middle-of-the-road Woody Allen feature is only worth watching for the gorgeousness of co-stars Elle Fanning and Selena Gomez. Allen has become so out of touch with the world—to watch him writing for young characters played by people like Timothée Chalamet is a colossal embarrassment. Totally unfunny “romantic” “comedy.” (4)

THE HOLE IN THE GROUND (2019)—A young mother slowly starts to become concerned that her cute son has been replaced by a duplicate, Invasion of the Body Snatchers style. Despite a couple of effectively creepy scenes, this critically lauded horror movie becomes totally farfetched. (5)

COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2020)—Throwback to B-movie horror flicks is reminiscent of John Carpenter’s remake of The Thing, with creepy, gross and disgusting special effects, slimy monsters and bizarre sci-fi plot twists. It’s also got a lot of laughably inane dialogue, much of it delivered by Nicolas Cage, but I was never sure if was put in intentionally or not. Not boring by any stretch, but the filmmakers definitely overdose on the “psychedelic” trappings of this surreal horror movie, as well as a perverse penchant for overacting. It’s got enough weirdness for several movies. (8)

FORD VS. FERRARI (2019)—True story of how Henry Ford II hired race-car wizards Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and Ken Miles (Christian Bale) to compete in the famous Le Mans competition against the Ferrari racing team in 1966. The movie is 151 minutes long, but never slows down for a minute; full of exciting action, humor and yes, even some tragedy. Tracy Letts, always a dependable performer, really shines as Ford. The movie is a true stunner! (10)

Most Anticipated Movies of 2020

At the beginning of 2019, I listed 16 movies I was excited to see. Of the 16, I saw 12 of them. Of the 12, I genuinely loved five of them. (I actively disliked three of them!) So why do I bother with these lists? I have been asking myself that question for years, and am still not any closer to coming up with an answer. So anyway, here’s a list of movies I think I will enjoy in 2020, but let’s face it, some of them will suck and there’s nothing I can do except be disappointed when the time comes.
Of course, I am fully aware that some of the best movies of 2020 will be ones I’ve never even heard of as of this writing. (After all, my favorite film of 2019, Jojo Rabbit, was wholly unknown to me when I created my last list a year ago.) The list below consists of the higher-profile pictures—including one that was on my 2019 list, but got pushed back for some reason.

THE RHYTHM SECTION— An international spy thriller that follows the story of Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively), a woman who seeks to uncover the truth behind a plane crash that killed her family three years earlier. With Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown. (Jan. 31)

THE LODGE—In this psychological horror movie, a young woman (Riley Keough) and her reticent new stepchildren (Jaeden Martell and Lia McHugh) find themselves isolated in the family's remote winter cabin, locked away to dredge up the mysteries of her dark past and the losses that seem to haunt them all. (Feb. 7)

THE CALL OF THE WILD—Adaptation of Jack London's 1903 novel features Harrison Ford, Dan Stevens and Bradley Whitford. In it, a domesticated St. Bernard/Scotch Collie dog named Buck is stolen from his Santa Clara, CA, home and sold to freight haulers in the Yukon. Looks like a pretty good rem(Feb. 21)

EMMA—Another remake! Jane Austen’s classic novel about Emma Woodhouse, a "handsome, clever and rich" woman who meddles in the romantic affairs of her friends and loved ones. (Feb. 21)

THE INVISIBLE MAN—Based on the trailer, this movie doesn’t appear to retain much of the H.G. Wells novel, so I’m not sure we can call this a remake. But I’m a sucker for all movies about invisible men, including the unfairly maligned 2000 sci-fi film Hollow Man, starring Kevin Bacon. (Feb. 28)

A QUIET PLACE, PART II—Sequel to the excellent 2018 aliens-will-get-you shocker.  (March 20)

NO TIME TO DIE—James Bond is back, and this is reportedly Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007. This news has left me quite shaken, but not stirred. (April 8)

ANTEBELLUM—Successful author Veronica Henley finds herself trapped in a nightmarish reality and must find a way to break free of the horrors at hand. (April 24)

BLACK WIDOW—Following the events of Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War (2016), Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) finds herself alone and forced to confront her past. (May 1)

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW—Psychological thriller film from director Joe Wright based on the bestselling 2018 novel by A. J. Finn. Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Julianne Moore star. (May 15)

WONDER WOMAN 1984—Gal Gadot returns as Wonder Woman in this sequel to the 2017 hit superhero adventure. (June 5)

IN THE HEIGHTS— Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2008 Broadway success becomes a musical-drama film. (June 26)

THE ETERNALS—Marvel superhero film featuring Angelina Jolie. (Nov. 6)

STILLWATER—A man works to exonerate his estranged daughter of a murder she didn’t commit. With Matt Damon. (Nov. 6)

COMING 2 AMERICA—Eddie Murphy reassembles the cast of his beloved ’80s comedy for a sequel that hopefully will not suck. (Dec. 18)

ON THE ROCKS— Director Sofia Coppola reunites with her Lost in Translation star Bill Murray in a comedy-drama about a young mother (Rashida Jones) who reconnects with her larger-than-life playboy father on an adventure through New York. (TBA)

December 2019

December was a fun month. I took two vacations. First, I took a four-night solo cruise to Mexico on the Carnival Inspiration (my fourth time on that ship). Then I flew to Fort Lauderdale to spend time with friends. I had a lovely Chinese-food dinner with Irene, and housesat for Cindy’s lovable dog, Mochi. TV: I finished binge-watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (on the ship), as well as Fleabag, and am currently working my way though Modern Love. (The episode “Take Me as I Am, Whoever I Am,” starring Anne Hathaway, was the best thing I saw on TV all year.) BOOKS: With the holidays and the cold weather as distractions, I am still working my way through The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. However, I did listen to many more stories by Roald Dahl, and bought a ton of gag-cartoon books via eBay and Amazon. MUSIC: I listened to many of the hits of 2019, as well as music by Billie Eilish’s brother, Finneas. Here are the movies I saw in December:

BOMBSHELL (2019)—Engrossing account of the Roger Ailes / Fox News / #MeToo scandal, with great acting from John Lithgow (as Ailes), as well as Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron as the blonde anchor bimbos. However, Robbie’s character is a “composite,” which leaves a bad taste in the mouth for those of us who put stock in accuracy. Worth seeing for Lithgow. (8)

THE AERONAUTS (2019)—In which Stephen Hawking and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—or, rather, the actors who portrayed those historical figures on the big screen in recent times—go up in a hot air balloon to do science stuff. Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne play the balloon’s pilot and the scientist who set out on an adventure in the mid 1800s to prove that the weather can be accurately predicted, and naturally face numerous life-threatening mishaps. Although the characters are composites—no attempt at historical accuracy has been made here—this is still a marvelous thrill ride above the clouds. (9)

UNCUT GEMS (2019)—Harrowing, anxiety-inducing crime thriller features a mesmerizing performance by Adam Sandler as a jeweler who’s having a big problem with some loan sharks—and a basketball player who has borrowed a seemingly priceless gemstone. The experimental soundtrack is sometimes an assault on the ears, but it does help to raise the tension. (9)

LITTLE WOMEN (2019)—Extremely entertaining and often moving adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott novel isn’t the first adaptation I have seen of it, but it’s definitely the best. Director-screenwriter Greta Gerwig has created a non-linear version of the story, which seems to work fairly well. The entire cast is exceptional. One of the best films of the year, if not the best. (10)

November 2019

November was a pretty rockin’ month. Although I missed seeing films with my Constant Movie Companion while she was busy house-hunting, I caught a few decent flicks...had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner...and finally got my apartment officially inspected by the city after my kitchen was repainted. All in all, not a bad month. One of the highlights was discovering a video online of a 1972 TV play I’ve been chasing for quite a while: Neil Simon’s The Trouble With People, starring Gene Wilder, James Coco, Jack Weston, Valerie Harper, etc. I’d always hoped this would be a lost classic—it’s so obscure that it isn’t even listed on IMDB.com. Turns out the reason it’s so obscure is that it’s just not very good. What a letdown! Oh, well. TV: I started watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which is quite entertaining. I also binged a series called Undone. MUSIC: I listened to the soundtrack of Frozen II (more on that below), the new Jeff Lynne’s ELO album, and a bunch of singles from 2019. BOOKS: I finished listening to the audiobook of The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney and started The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell. I also bought a bunch of gag-cartoon compilation books via Amazon and eBay. Here are the movies I saw in November:

DOCTOR SLEEP (2019)—The sequel to The Shining comes nearly 40 years later. Danny Torrence, now grown up and played by Ewan McGregor, still has his magical gifts…but so do some bloodthirsty new antagonists, as well as one dynamic new child character. For nearly the entirety of the film, it’s riveting, with excellent plotting, characters and suspense. Only during the final showdown do things go somewhat off the rails, but mostly it’s a real gem of a thriller. Lookalikes have been cast in some of the pivotal roles to represent characters we met in the original Shining. The movie does a real service both to King’s sequel novel and to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 scarefest. Compares very well to Stranger Things, Village of the Damned and numerous Stephen King stories (Firestarter, The Institute) in the canon of Magical Kids movies. (9)

LAST CHRISTMAS (2019)—Emilia Clarke (Me Before You) plays a klutzy, self-centered girl who find romance with a mysterious, handsome young man (Henry Golding), who inspires her to become a better person. Ah, but the young man has a secret, which the audience doesn’t learn until the end of the film. Although the movie has great comedic turns by Michelle Yeoh and co-screenwriter Emma Thompson, Clarke practically carries the whole film on her endless charm. Basically an ultra-formulaic Hallmark TV romance on the big screen, but entertaining enough. (8)

CHARLIE’S ANGELS (2019)—Director-screenwriter-costar Elizabeth Banks has fashioned a fun if extremely formulaic reboot of the TV phenomenon, sort of a distaff version of the big-screen Mission: Impossible series (itself a TV reboot). All the clichés are here, but it’s entertaining enough, with a good cast that includes both Kristen Stewart and Patrick Stewart. The plot is absolutely the least important part of this movie, which keeps the humor flowing at an acceptable pace. (8)

WAVES (2019)—This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown—probably my favorite actor on the series—is the head of an African-American family living in South Florida. My old stomping grounds! His son Tyler (Kelvin Harrison) is a very popular and handsome high-school wrestler who has it all: popular, intelligent, a great piano player, and in love with Alexis, a pretty Latina classmate. The first half of Waves recounts how Tyler’s life spirals out of control stemming from a shoulder injury and problems with his girlfriend. The second half then picks up the story of Tyler’s sister Emily (Taylor Russell), who becomes involved in her own biracial romance. The movie is like one long punch to your gut—it’s a searing and ultra-emotional drama that at one point made a fellow audience member cry out in total shock and surprise. That’s how effective the movie is at getting the viewer involved in the story. All of the acting is outstanding, and the direction is remarkable (although writer-director Trey Edward Shults does lean a bit too heavily on psychotropic special effects and film techniques, and Trent Reznor’s intense musical score is occasionally a little too full of itself). The movie is a little too long—I honestly thought it was over at around what turned out to be the halfway point—but it’s still relentlessly powerful and thought-provoking. (9)

MARRIAGE STORY (2019)—Extremely well acted tale of Adam Driver divorcing from Scarlett Johansson, fighting over their young son. But halfway through, I did feel as if I were watching a remake of Kramer vs. Kramer. Very long, but the acting is worth seeing. Nice musical score by Randy Newman. (8)

FROZEN II (2019)—The original animated feature, starring Idina “Adele Dazeem” Menzel, Kristen Bell and Joshua Gad, was a wonderful adventure with amazing songs and terrific animation. All of it is back for the sequel, but this time the story isn’t as compelling. In fact, I found it all a bit confusing. Elsa hears a mysterious voice calling to her from a forbidden forest and must travel there and uncover the truth about something from the past. There are some rock giants, a ghost horse made of ice (?), some tribes of people trapped in a weird forest, a super-cute fire lizard and not one shred of their story made much sense to me. But the songs are terrific, the special effects are beautiful, and Olaf the Snowman is always good for a dozen laughs or so. (8)

KNIVES OUT (2019)—I saw this hot on the heels of Frozen II, and while the two movies couldn’t be less similar, they are both a little confusing. Knives Out is a traditional whodunit, with a dead body, a house full of people who wanted the person dead, and a colorful detective who’s there to connect the thousands of dots. And there are more dots to connect in this movie than in any other mystery I’ve ever seen…it just goes on and on and on until I was frankly getting a bit impatient with it all. There are so many layers and double-crosses and nuances that it’s impossible to guess what happened. Still, the end is very satisfying. With Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Don Johnson and Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc, whose Southern-fried accent here is quite a switch from his James Bond drawl. (8)

October 2019

This was a comparatively major month of my 2019. Edith Steele, my dear friend since high school, passed away at age 87. Her death left me feeling sad, but she was definitely ready to go. I visited her son Jay in San Jose and saw his theater group’s outstanding production of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. (I also spent some time familiarizing myself with the score prior to seeing the musical.) I spent what amounts to my life’s savings to clean and paint my apartment’s kitchen, following a cooking accident last year that left the walls and ceiling of that room covered in soot. (It looks much better now!) I reported for jury duty, and came very close to being chosen to participate in a three-week trial, but fortunately I was spared after three days. I also walked out of a movie, the critically lauded The Lighthouse—it just wasn’t for me. Conversely, while I was in San Jose, I saw the Downton Abbey movie again, this time with Jay. BOOKS: I spent much of the month listening to the audiobook of Stephen King’s The Institute, which was excellent, and have started listening to J.P. Delaney’s The Perfect Wife. 
Here are the movies I didn’t walk out of in October:

LUCY IN THE SKY (2019)—In 2007, astronaut Lisa Nowak was arrested on charges of attempting to kidnap U.S. Air Force Captain Colleen Shipman, who had been romantically linked to Nowak’s former lover. The scandal made for some rather lurid headlines 12 years ago; now a slightly modified version of the story reaches the big screen with Natalie Portman as the astronaut and Jon Hamm as the former lover. The movie is the big-screen directorial debut of TV’s Noah Hawley, whose series Fargo I have enjoyed for a few years. The film is occasionally compelling (Portman is always fun to watch), but the film meanders somewhat and it lacks real spark. Some interesting cameos include Ellen Burstyn, comedian Tig Notaro and Nick Offerman. (7)

PARASITE (2019)—This Korean thriller is about how members of a lower-middle-class family infiltrate, one by one, an upper-class family by becoming their chauffeur, housekeeper and kids’ tutors. In order to accomplish this, they must conspire to have the people in those current positions sacked. That turns out to be a colossal problem when the previous housekeeper enters the picture. This is a movie in three parts. The first third is the setup. The second third is an explosion of violence and suspense. And the final third describes the after-effects of the middle part. About 80 percent of the movie is gripping and exciting; the other 20 percent should have been cut or re-thought. Still, it’s worth seeing for the good 80 percent. (8)

JOJO RABBIT (2019)—Here’s the best movie I’ve seen so far this year, a black comedy that combines pathos, hilarity and genuine heartfelt emotion. Finally, the Hitler youth get their own comedy! At times, it’s almost like Monty Python’s The Diary of Anne Frank. The excellent cast includes Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and Stephen Merchant; as the kids, Roman Griffin Davis and Thomasin McKenzie are utterly superb. And director Taika Waititi is extremely funny as an imaginary Hitler. (10)

JOKER (2019)—Joaquin Phoenix stars as the famous DC comics villain, who starts out as Arthur Fleck, an aspiring standup comedian who suffers from a mental disorder that causes him to laugh uncontrollably at inappropriate times. This “origin story” explains how he became Joker, the deranged and dangerous clown. It is intense and very dark. (9)

EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE (2019)—This is the continuation of the phenomenal Breaking Bad TV series. With the series’ main character having been killed off in the climactic episode, the movie puts all of its focus on Jesse Pinkman, his partner in crime. The action picks up immediately after the final show of the series, and we learn what becomes of our young anti-hero. It is at times quite suspenseful and intriguing, like having one more episode. (9)

September 2019

I got a “work breather” this month, as my magazine skips a few issues around this time of year. The big drama this month was having to do jury duty—my first time—beginning on Sept. 30, a situation that didn’t resolve itself until early October (so more on that next time). I also finally had to get my kitchen repainted, the result of an inspection of my apartment that did not go well. More on that next time too. Worth mentioning: I walked out of a movie this month, The Peanut Butter Falcon. Then, in early October, I walked out of It: Chapter 2. I don’t usually walk out of movies, but those two just didn’t cut the mustard. TV: The new season began this month, and it was very sad not to have The Big Bang Theory to look forward to anymore. But at least Modern Family is around for one more year. The list of TV shows I want to watch is growing by the day: Two-Sentence Horror Stories, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Undone, Creepshow and Big Little Lies are just some of the series I want to watch. Plus, my old favorites Hot Date, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Law & Order: SVU, The Simpsons, Stranger Things, The Good Place, etc., are back. BOOKS: I finished Dangerous to Know by Margaret Yorke (so-so) and started The Institute by Stephen King. It’s a big one, and I’m really enjoying it. MUSIC: I finally completed Part 1 of my Elton John project, and have been listening to a compilation of pop-rock songs from 2018 assembled by my friend John Baldan.
Here are the movies I saw in September:

BRITTANY RUNS A MARATHON (2019)—True-life story of an overweight woman (Jillian Bell) who stages a successful campaign to lose weight by running. The actress actually lost a bunch of weight during the filming of the movie. It’s a decent comedy-drama, but both Joan and I were troubled by how unpleasant the main character got after she lost the weight. I doubt I will remember much about this movie even a few weeks down the road. (6)

OFFICIAL SECRETS (2019)—Here’s another true-life story (with more to come). This one is about Katharine Gun, a government communications employee who leaked a secret memo that exposed an illegal spying operation by the USA. (The memo was all about how to blackmail United Nations diplomats tasked to vote on a resolution regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq.) Considering the huge whistleblower story that blew up in the last week or so, this slice of real-life espionage is more relevant than ever. Keira Knightley is outstanding as Gun, and the story is riveting and absorbing. (10)

LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE (2019)—Documentary about the “Blue Bayou” singer, whom I saw perform live in Hollywood, FL, on Oct. 10, 1980. The performer now suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and cannot sing. This film takes us through her amazing journey, first as part of the struggling Stone Poneys, then catapulting into superstardom as a solo artist. It takes us through all of the phases of her career, showing us a portrait of the artist as someone who sang whatever the hell moved her at the time. Boy, was she a knockout! Great soundtrack includes her hits “Long, Long Time,” “You’re No Good,” et al., and there are plenty of memorable celebrity interviews by the likes of Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Karla Bonoff, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Don Henley. (9)

AD ASTRA (2019)—Joan and I feared we were getting ourselves into another Interstellar experience (i.e., not good), but at least for the first hour or so, I enjoyed this outer-space adventure, in which astronaut Brad Pitt has to solve the mystery of why Earth is experiencing deadly impulses from around Neptune, which is where his father supposedly died in action. Eventually Pitt learns that his dad is still out there…is he responsible for these terrible impulses? That’s about where we lost interest. The whole “daddy” aspect of the movie wasn’t very interesting, and the movie spirals out of control in the second half. (6)

DOWNTON ABBEY (2019)—One of my all-time favorite TV shows finally hits the big screen, and it’s a marvelous entertainment for fans. All of the main characters are back, with a story that involves the king and queen of England dropping by Downton. Quick, polish the silverware! They do a great job of giving all of the characters a little story. One of my favorite movies of the year. (10)

HUSTLERS (2019)—Yet another movie inspired by a true story. I had expected this to be an outrageous comedy, but in fact it’s a comedy-drama about some strippers who enter into a scheme to drug upscale clients and max out their credit cards. The entire cast, including leads Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu, are first-rate. Extremely well assembled. Another of my favorites of the year. (10)

Elton John Project: Part 1

In the summer of 2019, inspired by the movie Rocketman, I decided to acquaint myself with the classic 1970s albums of Elton John. The project would involve thoroughly and repeatedly listening to his first 11 studio albums, along with various soundtrack and other non-LP tracks. I had long enjoyed the long stream of Elton's hits from this period—"Philadelphia Freedom," "Rocket Man," "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Crocodile Rock," "Your Song," "Daniel," "Tiny Dancer," "Bennie and the Jets," "Island Girl," "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"—all of them are top-tier 1970s smashes, and make up a big part of "the soundtrack of my life." Of the tunes from this era, "Candle in the Wind" is about the only one I would not include on my list of favorite Elton John songs, even though it is not terrible by any means. The question that I hoped to answer was simple: How many of the songs on Elton's dozen (or so) 1970s albums contain songs as good as the ones I just mentioned? The answer turns out to be as agonizing as it was predictable: not very many.

But first, a quick flashback: A few years ago, I did attempt a different sort of "Elton John deep tracks" project. I asked two friends, Mark and Robert—both major Elton fans—to recommend 10-12 lesser-known songs apiece that they thought were excellent. Unfortunately, most of their picks were songs that I didn't particularly care for, although roughly a third of them were good; a few of those were from his later albums. This year's project would be a far more comprehensive undertaking, leaving me to discover for myself which "deep tracks" were the outstanding ones.

After going through the process I have come to refer to as "drilling," I have learned that all of the truly great songs of Elton were the ones that became hits. Of the roughly 150 non-hits I listened to incessantly over several months, spread across the albums starting with 1969's Empty Sky and ending with 1976's Blue Moves, most were graded 1, 2 or 3 stars out of 5. However, just over 50—about a third—were graded at least 4 stars, with only a handful ("Bitter Fingers," "Skyline Pigeon," "I've Been Loving You," "Love Lies Bleeding" and "Where to Now, St. Peter?") landing the perfect 5-star rating. "Love Lies Bleeding" is unfortunately attached to a separate full-length song, "Funeral for a Friend," that I don't really care for, so some musical surgery was required to attach it for my personal enjoyment. Meanwhile, I would reckon that "Where to Now, St. Peter," "I've Been Loving You" and especially "Bitter Fingers" are the songs that deserved to have been hits. ("I'm sick of tra-la-las and la-de-das" is a lyric that has gotten permanently stuck in my head.)

Going into this project, I was particularly excited to hear the iconic, universally beloved LPs that Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin made, specifically Don't Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, and Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I think it was only natural for me to assume that these bestselling records would contain a higher ratio of excellent material. However, this proved not to be true. Practically all of Elton's albums from this period contain at least one hit, some good songs, some mediocre songs, and a couple of clinkers. (Indeed, if you were going to average out all of my ratings, you'd probably discover that I like the Friends soundtrack more than any of the previously mentioned "iconic" records!) Moreover, upon learning that I was initially prepared to stop after 10 albums, Mark implored me to include the experimental double album Blue Moves, as it's one of his favorites. But this, too, was really not any better than his other albums.

After the 1970s, Elton's parade of irresistible singles dried up. Not to say he didn't continue to make the charts, but his best-known songs in the 1980s and beyond—"Can You Feel the Love Tonight," "Blue Eyes," "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That," "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"—do not measure up to the strength of his '70s masterpieces, and that's a huge understatement. There are a few that I like: "I'm Still Standing" and "Sacrifice" are excellent, especially in comparison to his other charting singles from those years, and "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" is pretty decent. So...do I really need to explore his subsequent 19 albums? Logic would suggest that if I couldn't find a juggernaut of amazing material from the 1970s, then the ratio of great "unknown" songs from the 1980s and beyond will be even smaller.

And yet, I am curious. Clearly there must be some good songs spread across those 19 later albums. But how many? If there is a Part #2 of this project, I will definitely not be including the 1979 Victim of Love album, as he didn't play piano or write any of the album's songs. So that brings it down to 18 albums, which would probably best be split into two groups of nine. Only time will tell if I get to them, but in the meantime, I will be enjoying the 50 very good Elton John songs I have discovered in 2019—plus the five awesome ones.

Here were my grades:

August 2019

Other than work, August was uneventful. For the third year in a row, I flew to Chicago, rented a car and then drove to Michigan City, IN, for the boat races. BOOKS: I finished Last Words by George Carlin, A Life in Parts by Bryan Cranston and The Last Lie by Alex Lake, and began reading Dangerous to Know by Margaret Yorke. The new Dick Tracy comic-strip anthology was released, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading that as well. MUSIC: Continued listening to my Elton John playlist through 1974’s Caribou.

Here are the movies I saw in August:

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (2019)—Directed by André Øvredal and produced by Guillermo del Toro, this sort-of anthology horror film is an adaptation of a popular children’s book. And though it is squarely aimed at younger audiences, it is occasionally scary (particularly a scene where a teenage girl suffers a nightmarish facial blemish from which spiders emerge. A bit too juvenile, but enjoyable enough. (8)

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE (2019)—Director Richard Linklater adapts Maria Semple’s comedic novel about a woman whose daughter must figure out what happened to mom after circumstances prompt her to vanish. Not bad, but seems haphazardly edited. Cate Blanchett is always marvelous, and Kristen Wiig has a great supporting role as Cate’s next-door neighbor and nemesis. (8)

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (2019)—Having only recently seen Yesterday, the Beatles-worship movie, and Rocketman, the Elton John-worship movie, and Bohemian Rhapsody, the Queen-worship movie, Bruce Springsteen is next in line to have a movie built around his music. Viveik Kalra is a Pakistani high-school student oppressed by his domineering father, but when he discovers the music of the Boss, his whole life changes. In fact, virtually every aspect of his life becomes informed by songs like “Born to Run.” The movie is passably entertaining, especially when it isn’t focusing on Bruuuuuce. (7)

READY OR NOT (2019)—Comedy-horror film about a young woman (Samara Weaving) who marries into something akin to the Addams Family. Per tradition, this crazy clan welcomes any new bride or groom into the fold by making them play a game, but when Weaving draws the “Hide and Seek” card, it spells doom for her. Or does it? The movie is one long chase through the family mansion; it’s beyond preposterous, but basically hard to look away from. Weaving is a very attractive Margot Robbie clone. (8)

July 2019

I am filing this post late, and since I didn’t take very good notes on what I did this month, I’m a little hazy on the events of July. But I do recall some of the highlights. On Saturday, July 6, I attended the 78th birthday party of Barry “Dr. Demento” Hansen (with Joan, of course—why would I be there otherwise?). It was also attended by comedy-music genius Henry Phillips, who I actually got to talk to, although I doubt he was really listening, and why would he be? It was a fun affair, although no ice cream was served (despite the event being heavily advertised as a party at which ice cream would be served). I also got to meet my online friend Tonya Poirier after a great many years of only seeing her preternaturally beautiful self depicted on Facebook. We had a marvelous dinner with her husband, Mike I think his name is, at the Wood Ranch BBQ restaurant. They found a good parking spot at the Farmer’s Market. OK, this might be too much information. TV: I know I watched some stuff, but I don’t remember what I saw. BOOKS: I finished Alex Lake’s After Anna and started another one of his/her books (Lake being an intentionally gender-neutral pseudonym): The Last Lie. MUSIC: I started going through Elton John’s early albums in search of “hidden gems.” Here are the movies I saw in July:

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019)—This final entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Phase Three” is a follow-up to Avengers: Endgame, released in April. Peter Parker/Spider-Man is not my favorite comic-book character, and Tom Holland is far from my favorite Marvel performer, but the movie provides adequate escapism. The main highlights are Jake Gyllenhaal as a superhero with suspicious intentions, and Zendaya as a love interest for Holland. More than most of the Marvel movies, this one transcends comic-book antics into straightforward juvenilia—a fancy way of saying this movie is mostly for kids. But I didn’t hate it. (8)

YESTERDAY (2019)—I had no plans to see this, but then an opportunity arose to see a movie with Cindy, so we went together (she had already seen it). The bad news is that my fear that I would be left with a million plausibility questions was not exactly allayed. But more concerning is the fact that Himesh Patel is the most bizarrely and outrageously miscast actor of any movie I’ve ever seen. Fortunately, the movie has Lily James (of Downton Abbey fame) to look at, and a pleasant soundtrack of Beatles songs—mostly Paul’s. On the bright side, I didn’t dislike the film nearly as much as I feared I would. (7)

THE FAREWELL (2019)—Playing against type, comedic actress/rapper Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians, Oceans 8) is cast as a young NYC woman whose Chinese grandmother (living in Changchun, China) is diagnosed with cancer; the news causes Awkwafina to spend the entire movie sad, depressed and totally dour—her considerable comedic gifts totally wasted. But the elderly woman’s extended family opt to do the Chinese thing, and not tell her. This leaves Western-cultivated Awkwafina at a crossroads; she travels to China to see grandma for the last time, but has a hard time keeping the family’s big health secret. Instead, the grandmother is told that a wedding is the reason for the family reunion. It’s a reasonably engrossing movie, not a classic, but an interesting story based on actual events experienced by director Lulu Wang. (8)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)—Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie is a fictional story playing out against the events of the Charles Manson “Helter Skelter” killings. Made-up characters played by Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio appear with real-life Hollywood people like Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) and "Squeaky" Fromme (Dakota Fanning). The movie takes its time reaching its climax, but it’s a fun and mesmerizing ride. The two male leads are absolutely perfect, especially Brad Pitt as a larger-than-life stunt man. (9)

June 2019

Highlights of this month included a trip to Lake Elsinore, CA, to participate in my magazine’s annual bikini shoot, featuring nine boats we’d invited to take part in the event. I lasted about five hours before the crippling heat finally got to me. Still, we shot a large amount of materials for me to fill numerous pages of our July issue, plus lots of feature stories to mete out over the following 12 months or so. I also had a lovely breakfast with my friend Anna, who was in town just for a few hours during a layover at LAX. Joan and I saw Roy Zimmerman perform in a very warm room sitting on uncomfortable chairs, and there was no new material, and some of the audience members (the ones sitting right next to us, natch) were talking during the performance. TV: The new season of Black Mirror dropped, but only one episode was exceptional. I also watched the first episode of Dead to Me. BOOKS: I finished I Found You by Lisa Jewell (thanks to Connie Ogle for the recommendation) and started After Anna by Alex Lake.

Here are the movies I saw in June:

TANGENT ROOM (2017)—Director Björn Engström’s short (64 minutes) sci-fi movie locks five characters—all scientists—in a room. They’ve been given the task of solving an existential math problem or face almost certain death if they don’t crack the conundrum’s cryptic clues. From what I could gather from the scientific double-talk, it seems that the Earth is in imminent danger of collapsing on itself (or something), which leads to some very creepy special effects and a life-changing conclusion. This otherworldly thriller, sort of a modern-day Twilight Zone episode as conceived by Stephen Hawking, is helped by the always extraordinary acting chops of Britain’s Vee Vimolmal. (9)

BOOKSMART (2019)—Two graduating high school girls (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever) set out to finally break the rules and party on their last day of classes. This coming-of-age comedy is meant to remind viewers of movies like Superbad and Adventureland, but it’s actually a bit more inventive and offbeat than those movies. It takes a bit of time for the picture truly take off, but once it does, it’s extremely enjoyable, and quite funny and clever. Dever is fondly remembered in the episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm about a Girl Scout who experiences getting her period for the first time. (9)

TOY STORY 4 (2019)—Here’s the year’s best-reviewed movie that is actually a colossal disappointment. Disney/Pixar brings back the familiar characters from the first three (excellent) Toy Story movies, then all but ignores most of them in favor of introducing a large amount of new—and much less interesting—toys. The story is an irritating retread of the “toys get separated from the others, and then they must find their way back home” trope that has been done to death in this franchise. The filmmakers load up the movie with frenetic scenes intended to fill the screen with a lot of action and chaos to keep small kids interested; as a result, there is a marked lack of humanity. This is the first Toy Story movie that left me feeling bored. I did like Forky, a new character, and the ending is touching, but many of the main characters are sorely missed. (5)

ROCKETMAN (2019)—To tell the Elton John story, Rocketman’s filmmakers decide to turn the story into a something like a traditional musical, using Elton’s songs to advance the storyline. For a while, it works just fine. Unfortunately, because this is the story of a pop singer, the movie ultimately starts shunting back and forth between diagetic musical number numbers (“I don’t ‘know’ I’m singing!”) and non-diagetic numbers (i.e., live concert performances or songwriting sessions), and never seems to decide for sure what kind of movie it wants to be. Much of it is entertaining, but it’s one of many films I’ve seen about a superstar who is universally worshipped but spends the movie wallowing in a sea of drug- and alcohol-fueled self-pity anyway. Thus, I felt like I’d seen this movie innumerable times already, instead of feeling like I was seeing something fresh and unique. Having said all that, Taron Egerton is utterly perfect as Elton John, and all of Elton’s wonderful hits are performed exquisitely. (8)

LATE NIGHT (2019)—Mindy Kaling’s first big-screen comedy is about an aging host of a late-night talk show (Emma Thompson) who hires a token minority female (Kaling) for her writing staff—strictly for appearances. Unfortunately, Thompson’s character is so inhumanly cruel and repugnant that it sends the movie into a tailspin before she is finally, finally (sort of) redeemed at the end. Kaling is very funny, as always (I saw every episode of her TV show), but this movie isn’t quite as hilarious as it needed to be. (8)

WILD ROSE (2019)—A young Irish mother of two, newly released from jail on some drug-related charge, dreams of being a country-music star. She struggles between choosing to follow her dream, or being a responsible mom. We’ve seen this kind of “making of a pop star” movie many times before (i.e., the recent Teen Spirit and A Star Is Born), but Jessie Buckley is breathlessly perfect in the title role, and the movie is genuinely appealing on virtually every level. Extremely well done. (9)

May 2019

This month, I headed to San Jose to see South Bay Musical Theater’s excellent production of Thoroughly Modern Millie (thank you, Jay Steele!), attended the Desert Storm Poker Run in Lake Havasu City, AZ (nearly fainting from heat stroke in the 100+ F temperatures) and wrapped up tutoring duties at John Muir Elementary School for the final time after seven glorious years. TV: I watched the final episode of The Big Bang Theory...so sad the series has ended its run. Jay and I watched several episodes of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s final season. BOOKS: I finished listening to Rachel Abbott’s The Shape of Lies and neared the end of Neil Simon’s Fools. MUSIC: I finished grading all 140+ songs of Death Cab for Cutie.

Here are the movies I saw in May:

LONG SHOT (2019)—Very entertaining romantic comedy about how presidential hopeful Charlize Theron falls in love with writer Seth Rogen (yes, it’s a science fiction picture). As preposterous as the plot is, and as silly as some of the scenes are, it’s amazingly enganging. Theron in particular is quite funny. (9)

A LITTLE PRINCESS (1995)—Adaptation of the Frances Hodgson Burnett novel follows young Sara Crewe (Liesel Matthews), whose rich father must go off to war; after leaving the child in the care of despicable boarding school headmistress Miss Maria Minchin (Eleanor Bron), he is apparently killed in action, leaving Sara no option but to become an indentured servant. Disney-type production hits most of the right notes, altering the original story somewhat, but improving it overall. The cast is uniformly excellent. (9)

A DOG OF FLANDERS (1959)—Another famous children’s story, this time by Marie Louise de la Ramée writing as Ouida, adapted as a Disney-type family drama. A young orphan farmboy in Belgium, living with his milkman grandfather (Donald Crisp), take in an abused dog and nurse him back to health. The kid, who aspires to become an artist, is taken under wing by a local painter (Theodore Bikel). It’s a gentle and moving story; the only drawback is the comparatively lackluster performance by David Ladd as the boy. (8)

ECHO IN THE CANYON (2019)—Documentary about the development of the Southern California “Malibu Canyon” folk-rock style of music (Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Mamas and the Papas, Beach Boys), featuring interviews with most of the key players by Jakob Dylan (son of Bob Dylan). Mostly engaging; only frequent clips from the film that inspired the movie (Model Shop) distract from the musical entertainment. Featuring numerous classic songs re-worked by Dylan and various other contemporary singers and musicians, including Regina Spektor, Beck, Norah Jones, Cat Power, etc. (8)

SURVIVAL ISLAND (2005)—A married couple (Billy Zane and voluptuous Kelly Brook) and a hot Latin boathand (Juan Pablo Di Pace) are the only survivors of a yacht disaster. Washed up on a desert island, the trio go through various Lord of the Flies stages before someone gets killed. This is a pretty schlocky film—a guilty pleasure, if only for the psychological love-triangle drama and the fact that sexy Brook is frequently nude. The worst thing about it is a voodoo subplot that should have been taken out completely—without it, the movie would be 100% better. Enjoyable, for all of the wrong reasons. Original title: Three. (7.5)

THE PERFECTION (2019)—Apparently, this Netflix horror movie is the latest scarefest entertaining the nation—this month’s Bird Box. From what I understood, people are seriously grossed out by the disgusting and shocking nature of the film, so I felt I needed to check it out. It’s true that there are several extremely lurid images in the movie, many involving body mutilations and people vomiting, but I have a pretty strong tolerance for that kind of thing. What I don’t have a tolerance for is stupidity, and there are at least a couple of plot developments in The Perfection that preventing me from suspending my disbelief. Having said that, like the previous movie, much of it is enjoyably trashy; the cast is very good and the leads are quite attractive. Bonus: several gorgeous views of Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl building, which I love. (7)

April 2019

This month, I got my tooth #5 pulled, after cracking it while eating a sandwich (thanks, Jersey Mike’s Subs!). It was also the month of Desert Storm in Lake Havasu, which I attended to cover for Speedboat. It was over 100 degrees, so I had to curtail some of my outdoor activities. BOOKS: I read more Neil Simon plays (finished Barefoot in the Park and I Ought to Be in Pictures). I listened to the audiobook of Cary Elwes’ As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, and started The Shape of Lies by Rachel Abbott. MUSIC: I began listening to and grading every song by Death Cab for Cutie. TV: I watched every episode of Hot Date, a very funny sketch-comedy series recommended by my friend Anna.

Here are the three movies I saw in April:

HIGH LIFE (2019)—Another overrated sci-fi drama to put on the shelf next to Interstellar. In this one, Robert Pattison leads a group of criminals aboard a spaceship who are tasked to travel to a black hole to find an alternate energy source. I found it to be long, muddled and boring. (4)

TEEN SPIRIT (2019)—Elle Fanning plays a bored British high-school girl of Polish descent who gets a chance to compete in a kind of American Idol-type TV singing contest. All the odds are against her, but she perseveres in what amounts to a fairly by-the-numbers competition movie. However, what the film has going for it is some very good music, plus Elle’s above-average performance and amazing beauty. Rebecca Hall also has a nice role. (9)

AVENGERS: ENDGAME (2019)—This is the movie that wraps up the Avengers storyline that began with last year’s Avengers: Infinity War. Half of the superheroes have evaporated, thanks to ultimate villain Thanos (Josh Brolin), who got the “infinity stones” and wiped out half of humanity. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) devises a plan to bring them back, and it involves time-travel. I’m not a huge time-travel fan, but the movie is generally entertaining, if overlong. (8)

March 2019

This month flew by very quickly. No real highlights or lowlights. I bit down on a sandwich and apparently cracked a tooth, which will need to be extracted and (hopefully) replaced with an implant. Also, an old friend from New Zealand got in touch after many years of estrangement. BOOKS: Listened to the audiobooks of Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell, which I thoroughly enjoyed; then immediately listened to her earlier novel The Girls in the Garden, which was passable but not as engaging. (A third attempt, Watching You, was abandoned about a third of the way through.) I also continued to read Neil Simon plays, including Little Me, California Suite and (currently) Barefoot in the Park. TV: I watched the first season of Ricky Gervais’s dark comedy After Life, as well as the first episode of Brian Clemens’ old Thriller series.

Here are the movies I saw in March:

GLORIA BELL (2019)—Julianne Moore stars in this carbon-copy remake of the 2013 Sebastián Lelio-directed Gloria; he also directed the English-language version. Despite very strong critical acclaim, Joan and I were bored by this story of a lonely middle-aged woman looking for love in the bars and dance floors of L.A. She hooks up with divorcee John Turturro, who turns out to have some negative baggage. Moore is good, and looking quite attractive at 58, but the movie is a snooze. (4)

US (2019)—Another movie with strong critical acclaim, Us is Jordan Peele’s follow-up to his 2017 smash Get Out. This hyped-up horror movie is illogical and not remotely scary. It contains so many plot holes and ridiculous concepts that I spent the entire movie wishing it would end. I would have walked out, but star Lupita N’yongo is absolutely drop-dead gorgeous—the only reason for seeing this third-rate M. Night Shyamalan clone. (4)

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD (2019)—Third in the Dragon series is every bit as adventurous, funny and well-animated as its two predecessors. Toothless gets a girlfriend, while the humans and dragons encounter a malevolent enemy and set off to search for a new land. (9)

CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019)—Brie Larson as the new female superhero and the start of a new franchise from Marvel. Like most of the other Marvel comic-book adaptations, this one is non-stop action from start to finish. Very entertaining! (9)

ON THE BASIS OF SEX (2018)—Felicity Jones stars as up-and-coming attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg in this biopic that traces the Supreme Court Justice’s early cases. Decent legal drama suffers from a draggy middle third, but it comes alive in the final court case that challenges an antiquated and sexist law. This is one of those “textbook” movies that seems more like homework than pure entertainment, but it is educational and fairly thought-provoking. Jones is good, but her Brooklyn accent tends to fade in and out. (7)

February 2019

I only saw one movie this month. Pretty pathetic. Except it was a very busy month. I traveled to San Jose to see two stage shows put on by South Bay Musical Theatre: Big River (the Huckleberry Finn musical) and Broadway By the Decade: The 1990s, a revue consisting of songs from that decade’s best musicals. It was a very fun trip! Almost immediately after returning, I hopped on a plane to Florida to attend the Miami International Boat Show. I stayed with Chris in a high-rise condo and took a “water taxi” to the show for a couple of days. It was a lot of fun, but I caught a cold right after returning, which was the usual drag. Continuing on my health decline: My arms—especially my left arm—have started to tingle (i.e., fall asleep) a lot, apparently due to the Type 2 diabetes I suffer from. BOOKS: I listened to Don’t Wake Up by first-time novelist Liz Lawler and started Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell. I am enjoying Jewell’s book enough to want to read all of the rest of her books. I am also continuing to read plays by Neil Simon plays, including Come Blow Your Horn, The Star-Spangled Girl and Last of the Red Hot Lovers; I am currently reading (and quite enjoying) Little Me. MUSIC: I began listening to everything by Fleet Foxes.
Here’s the movie I saw in February:

SHOPLIFTERS (2018)—After reading a ton of excellent reviews of this Japanese film, I decided to check it out at a local art theater. It’s the story of a ragtag group of people—some biologically related, others not—who live in house “off the grid” and in a state of poverty. There’s a father and son (more or less) who help make ends meet by stealing from the local markets. Then the family takes in—or semi-kidnaps—a young girl who evidently is living in an abusive household, and provide her with a more friendly environment, even if it is much more offbeat. Director Kore-eda Hirokazu wanted to explore the concept of what exactly constitutes a family, and really accomplished his goal with this often moving picture. It rambles at times and needs a little tightening up, but it was very interesting. (8.5)

January 2019

I saw only four movies in January—mostly old pictures—which for me is a typically low number for the beginning of any year. Also typical: the rain hit SoCal, so it was (and continues to be) very wet here in L.A. I developed some pain in my left arm, which has caused some discomfort sleeping on my left side, and my left forearm to keep falling asleep. Going to the doctor this week to have it checked out. This month, I enjoyed an a cappella show put on by Beverly Hills High School; although Jenna didn’t have any solo parts, it was still a wonderfully executed performance. I also booked two Carnival cruises, one for this December on the Inspiration, and one for December 2020 on the new Panorama ship, which isn’t even finished being built yet. MUSIC: I listened to numerous recent chart hits, as well as an album by Kero Kero Bonito. BOOKS: I listened to Her Last Secret by Barbara Copperthwaite, and read a bunch of Neil Simon plays (God’s Favorite, Gingerbread Lady, Prisoner of Second Avenue, Chapter Two), and plan to continue reading more by him.
Here are the movies I saw in January:

COMPULSION (1959)—This crime drama, based on the Leopold and Loeb murder trial, was fairly decent until Orson Welles showed up as the attorney representing the two young killers. Overall, pretty forgettable. (7)

GREEN FOR DANGER (1946)—One of my favorite actors, Alastair Sim, stars as a police detective trying to get to the bottom of a man’s death at a rural British hospital during World War 2. He is, as always, absolutely splendid. A fun whodunit! (8)

DESTROYER (2018)—Nicole Kidman plays against type as an American detective who has seen too much of the booze and rough stuff. She had once infiltrated a bank-robbery gang and managed to illegally sock away some money; the guilt has driven her half-crazy, and now her formal crime boss, long off the grid, has come back to haunt her. Contains a solid double-whammy twist at the end. Kidman—who has been “uglified” via makeup as Charlize Theron was in Monster—is fantastic, and so is the film! (10)

MY MAN GODFREY (1936)—My Facebook friend Shirlee Hauser was recently challenged to post 10 still images from movies that had a special significance to her—one each day. I love old movies, and what she wrote about My Man Godfrey inspired me to watch it. It’s a boisterously funny comedy featuring William Powell as a “forgotten man” (i.e., Depression victim) who takes a job as a butler to Carole Lombard’s ultra-wealthy but hopelessly kooky family. The two develop an attraction for one another—more on Lombard’s side—and it doesn’t hurt that the two actors were previously married. Their on-screen chemistry in this lunacy is perfect. Nice to see Powell in a non-Thin Man role—he is pure perfection in this movie. (10)

Most Anticipated Movies of 2019

Of the 30 “Most Anticipated Movies of 2018” I wrote about a year ago, I only ended up seeing half of them. Of the 15 I did see, only seven of those wound up in my Top 20 (of 85) new films I saw in 2018. In fact, a few of the movies I was looking forward to either got pushed back to 2019 (Where’d You Go Bernadette, Charming, Teen Spirit), and Woody Allen’s A Rainy Day in New York looks like it may never be released at this point. So there seems little point in assembling a “most anticipated movies” list at all, except to continue to prove how feeble I am at predicting what I will like, or how bad I am at even knowing which great movies will even be released in the coming year. Nonetheless, once again, here are the movies I’m looking forward to in 2019.

FYRE—Documentary about the now-infamous, would-be music festival that was billed as a luxury experience but slowly unraveled into well documented disaster. (Jan. 18) UPDATE: I watched enough of it to satisfy my curiosity.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD—Third installment in the Dreamworks animated adventure will apparently find a mate for Hiccup. (Feb. 22)

CAPTAIN MARVEL—Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races. (March 8)

US—In Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get Out, a mother and father take their kids to their beach house, expecting to enjoy time with friends, but their serenity turns to tension and chaos when some visitors arrive uninvited. (March 15)

AVENGERS: ENDGAME—Follow-up to 2018’s Avengers superhero saga wraps up the story of Thanos. (April 26)

AD ASTRA—Brad Pitt in a sci-fi space adventure. Sounds good to me. (May 24)

FLARSKY—Excellent test screenings have got me interested in this Seth Rogen/Charlize Theron comedy. (June 7)

TOY STORY 4—When a new toy called "Forky" joins Woody and the gang, a road trip alongside old and new friends reveals how big the world can be for a toy. (June 21)

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD—A faded TV actor and his stunt double embark on an odyssey to make a name for themselves in the film industry during the "Helter Skelter" reign of terror in 1969 Los Angeles. Directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie. (Aug. 9)

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE?—After her anxiety-ridden mother disappears, 15-year-old Bee does everything she can to track her down, discovering her troubled past in the process. Based on the Maria Semple novel and starring Cate Blanchett. (Aug. 9)

IT: CHAPTER TWO—In the sequel to the 2017 horror movie, it’s 27 years later, and the Losers Club have grown up and moved away…until a devastating phone call brings them back. (Sept. 6)

DOWNTON ABBEY—The Crawley family is back on the big screen after a splendid six-season run on TV. (Sept. 20)

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW—Amy Adams in an adaptation of the A.J. Finn psychological thriller novel. (Oct. 4)

THE ADDAMS FAMILY—An animated version of Charles Addams' series of cartoons about a peculiar, ghoulish family. (Oct. 18)

LAST CHRISTMAS—Emilia Clarke and Emma Thompson in a rom-com. Sign me up! (Nov. 15)

FROZEN 2—The delightful Disney animated feature gets a sequel. (Nov. 22)

Best and Worst Movies of 2018

I saw 85 movies in 2018. That’s five less than in 2017, but 12 more than in 2016.

Of the 85 movies I saw, 71 were released in 2018; the rest were older films.

I awarded 13 movies a perfect “10” (as opposed to only five in 2017—that’s a pretty significant upswing!).

As with previous years, I know I missed some outstanding movies in 2018, and I’ll need to catch up on some of them (see “Sorry I Missed You,” below).

The best movie I saw in 2018 was Isle of Dogs. I saw it twice in the theater. I loved this movie very much.

The rest of my “perfect 10” movies were Adrift, Incredibles 2, Leave No Trace, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Eighth Grade, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Juliet Naked, Searching, A Simple Favor, The House With a Clock in Its Walls, Bad Times at the El Royale, What They Had.

Rounding out my Top 20 movies of the year, I must include A Quiet Place, Jurassic World, The Mule, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Miracle Season and The Favorite.

Other movies I really liked in 2018: Mary Poppins Returns, Love Simon, Game Night, On Chesil Beach, A Star Is Born, Crazy Rich Asians, Wildlife, Beautiful Boy, Bohemian Rhapsody and Fahrenheit 11/9.

WORST MOVIE I SAW IN 2018: BlacKKKlansman.

VASTLY OVERRATED MOVIES OF 2018: Black Panther, Phantom Thread, Ready Player One, The Endless, Hereditary, The Party, First Man.

BEST OLDER MOVIES I SAW IN 2016: The Greatest Showman, Entertaining Mr. Sloane.

SORRY I MISSED YOU:

Shoplifters (Have since seen)
The Miracle Season (Have since seen)
Every Day
Red Sparrow
The Meg
Flower
In the Fade
Ismael’s Ghosts
Keep the Change
A Private War
You Were Never Really Here
The Rider
Love After Love
The Tale
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
Bumblebee
Claire’s Camera
Colette
Custody
Dark River
The Escape
Mary and the Witch’s Flower
A Mother's Worst Fear
Night Comes On

December 2018

I started December by taking a four-night Carnival cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada. The highlights were a walking tour of Catalina restaurants I’d done before, and a pedicure I got on the ship. Otherwise, it was a pretty dismal cruise, but I guess 18 good cruises out of 19 is nothing to sneeze at. I ended the month by entertaining some friends from China who were in town; naturally, I took them to Huntington Library, a massive botanical gardens where I usually take out-of-town guests. We also had a fun lunch at a Chinese restaurant on Olympic and Sepulveda that I must remember to go back to. BOOKS: I read and enjoyed Kathryn Croft’s The Warning, but gave up on Rachel Abbott’s And So It Begins—she is one of my favorite mystery writers, but after more than two hours listening to the audiobook, I was bored. MUSIC: I listened to new albums by Elvis Costello and The Beths, as well as the Mary Poppins Returns soundtrack.

Below are are the movies I saw this month. Upon further reflection, I am surprised by how many of these movies are either documentaries (Fahrenheit 11/9) or based on true stories (The Mule, Bohemian Rhapsody, Can You Ever Forgive Me, The Favourite, Roma, The Miracle Season).

THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS (2018)—I have always enjoyed anthology films. It’s rare that feature films consisting of a bunch of shorts strung together are excellent all the way through, but there are almost always some gems in these “short story” type movies. Most of the ones I’ve seen tend to be horror anthologies like Creepshow, or dramas based on Somerset Maugham stories (Trio, Quartet). I’m not sure there has even been a Western anthology before, but Joel and Ethan Coen are the perfect pair to conjure one up. Of the six shorts in Buster Scruggs, most of them are at least good, with only the final chapter somewhat disappointing. The title film, which kicks the whole thing off, is by far the best; it features Tim Blake Nelson as a grinning, fast-draw sociopath who gets a real kick out of killing people…until he meets a competitor who’s a pretty fast draw himself. The fine cast includes James Franco, Liam Neewson, Tom Waits, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daly and Brendan Gleeson. (9)

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (2018)—The Queen biopic paints an astonishing picture of the late, great Freddie Mercury, a larger-than-life personality played to perfection by Rami Malek. Although entertaining, the movie is full of understandable dramatizations—along with plenty of half-truths and full-blown lies. That kind of soured me on the film retroactively, but I liked it when I was watching it. (8)

THE MULE (2018)—In what may be Clint Eastwood’s last-ditch attempt to win a Best Actor Oscar, he directs himself in the true story of Leo Sharp (changed to Earl Stone for the film), a World War II (changed to Korean War) veteran who becomes a drug runner in his 80s. Bradley Cooper is a Special Agent trying to catch the evil drug lords, and Dianne Weist is Clint’s estranged ex. It’s a low-key but highly watchable movie, with Clint much less of a grouch than he was in 2008’s Gran Torino. (9)

CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? (2018)—Melissa McCarthy plays real-life author Lee Israel, who notoriously ran afoul of the law by forging and selling signed letters by famous authors like Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker. A good portion of the movie is about Israel’s friendship with Jack (Richard E. Grant), a fellow boozer. Israel is quite unlikeable, but McCarthy plays her with a heaping helping of pathos. Dolly Wells is good as a bookseller who buys some of Israel’s letters and attempts to begin a romantic relationship with her. (8)

ENTERTAINING MR. SLOANE (1970)—Joe Orton’s 1964 black comedy play gets the cinematic treatment. This is a four-hander about how a bloke (Peter McEnery) is taken in by a brother and sister, who live with their old dad. Sadism, scandal and homosexuality ensue. I found the movie entertaining and quirky; someday I would like to see a stage version of it. It has inspired me to seek out other Orton films and plays. (8)

THE FAVOURITE (2018)—I had seen the trailer for this dark, historical comedy-drama several times, so I knew what to expect. While critics may have slightly overpraised it, I did thoroughly enjoy the apparently true story of Queen Anne of Great Britain (reigned 1702-1714) and the two women who jockey to be her favorite. The performances of all three main actresses—Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone—are absolutely the best of the year. It is interesting that I saw this movie one day after finishing Entertaining Mr. Sloane, as both films are dark comedies with equal measures of sadism, homosexuality, cruelty and personal politics. (9)

FAHRENHEIT 11/9 (2018)—Michael Moore’s latest documentary is much less about the election of Donald Trump and more about the general disintegration of democracy and rise of national corruption across governmental platforms. Much of Moore’s wrath is aimed at the clean-water crisis in his hometown of Flynt, Mich., which local officials brought about by greed and corruption. His attention bounces around a bit, so we get stuff about gun control and other national crises. And he gets a few licks in on Trump, too (a comparison to Hitler was one of the high points). Overall, very well done, but I still want to see a scathing indictment of the Trump election and presidency. (9)

ROMA (2018)—Shot in gorgeous black and white, this Spanish-language Alfonso Cuarón-directed film won huge raves toward the end of the year. The film features centers around a upper-middle-class family in the Roma district of Mexico City: a mom and dad with their four kids, a couple of maids, and a dog. The film’s story focuses on Cleo, one of the maids. The plot unfolds at a snail’s pace, but it is absolutely gorgeous to look at; when drama occasionally happens, the viewer is grateful. I liked the movie, but 15-20 minutes could easily be cut out of it. At times, the film is very moving. (8)

THE MIRACLE SEASON (2018)—Although I've never been much of an actual sports fan, for some reason I am a total sucker for underdog sports movies, from Rocky to McFarland, USA. This particular movie tells the real-life story of a high-school girls’ volleyball team that overcomes tremendous odds, etc. It’s also a relentless tearjerker, extremely manipulative, and highly effective. William Hurt and Helen Hunt play the adults; Danika Yarosh and Erin Moriarty are a pair of super-cute volleyball players. (9)

MARY POPPINS (1964)—I saw the original Poppins when I was a kid, but I was too young to remember anything about it half a century later. With a sequel finally in theaters, I knew I would need to refresh my memory about the story and characters. Naturally, the movie is loaded with the signature Disney charm. But even though I’d been warned about Dick Van Dyke’s horrendous Cockney accent, it was much worse than I could have imagined. God, is it terrible. The special effects in this movie are also pretty cheesy compared to what they can do now. But the Sherman Brothers’ songs more than make up for any deficiencies in the film, and Julie Andrews is practically perfect in every way. (9)

MARY POPPINS RETURNS (2018)—Emily Blunt takes over the lead role in the Poppins sequel, and although nobody could equal Julie Andrews, Blunt is very good at making the character her own. I enjoyed the sequel songs very much. The film is a little bit too long, like its predecessor, but there is a lot of magic here, and no bad Cockney or dated SFX. So in several ways, I liked the sequel more than the original. (9)

THE FEELS (2018)—I am a fan of Taiwanese actress Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians, TV’s Fresh Off the Boat), so I was delighted to hear that she’d be playing a lesbian in an indie comedy. And Wu is definitely the highlight of The Feels, which is a sort of lesbian Big Chill, with seven people (many previously unacquainted) getting together to celebrate the impending marriage of Wu and her fiancé. The movie is indie verging on mumblecore, pleasant but unremarkable except for Wu’s excellent acting and enormous beauty. Note: Watching Wu in this film inspired me to download and watch the fifth episode of the sci-fi anthology TV series Dimension 404, which features Wu playing another lesbian. She’s great in this episode as well. (7)

CREED II (2018)—By my count, this is the eighth Rocky movie, and like the best movies in that series, it copies the best elements of what has come before. In this one, the son of Apollo Creed gets to fight the son of the guy who killed him, Ivan Drago, as depicted in Rocky IV. That’s a pretty good setup. What follows is very similar to the plot of Rocky 3; enough said. It’s all very predictable but undeniably enjoyable. (8)

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959)—As a fan of mystery literature and film, it’s fairly embarrassing that I have virtually no relationship with Sherlock Holmes—and I am loath to count the horrendous Robert Downey Jr. movie I saw a true entry in the Holmes canon (although I understand that the current Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly Holmes & Watson “comedy” may be even worse). I have long been curious about The Hound of the Baskervilles, and this Hammer Studios remake—supposedly the first Sherlock Holmes movie to be filmed in color—is supposed to be one of the best. It’s definitely watchable, although I understand numerous liberties were taken in telling the story to bring it up to Hammer’s “scarifying” standards. Peter Cushing is the Holmes I’d always imagined, nothing against Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays him on TV. As a way of ringing 2019, I thought it would be good to finally take this one off the bucket list. (8)

November 2018

I kicked off the month by flying to Fort Lauderdale to cover the boat show for Speedboat Magazine, and ended the month by signing off on the story I wrote about the event. I had a fun lunch, and a fun dinner, with Chris Davidson and Jim Wilkes. When I got home, my car had a dead battery, which led to a bad experience with the garage that came to swap out the battery. (AAA ended up refunding my annual dues as a result of the incident.) This was also the month that Joan and I saw Joan Baez perform at UCLA’s Royce Hall. All month long, I looked forward to going on my 20th cruise (on Carnival again) on Dec. 2. MUSIC: I listened to a bunch of songs by the Rolling Stones, and thoroughly enjoyed the new album by the Grip Weeds. BOOKS: On the audiobook side, I finished B.A. Paris’s book Bring Me Back, which was mostly a drag. Then I read Stephen King’s new novella, Elevation; it was just OK, but he included a truly marvelous short story called “Laura” that I just loved. I also “sight read” a great play called June Evening by Bill Naughton, then devoured some new Alan Ayckbourn plays, including A Brief History of Women, Arrivals and Departures and Hero’s Welcome. Looking forward to reading more Ayckbourn!

Here are the movies I saw in November:

BAD BEN (2016)—This was a low-budget “found footage” horror film along the lines of Paranormal Activity. Same basic concept: security-cam footage records some ghostly things going on in a house. No one is going to confuse it with Citizen Kane (or even The Exorcist), but it was a decent time-waster, which I watched on my iPad during the flight to Fort Lauderdale. (8)

HUNTER KILLER (2018)—While I was in Fort Lauderdale, I needed to waste most of a Sunday, as my flight was leaving about 10 hours after I had to check out of my hotel. So I saw a couple of movies. This first one was kind of a Hunt for Red October flick about some submarines and some politically tense maneuvers. Totally forgettable, but not bad as a time-waster. (7)

INDIVISIBLE (2018)—This was the second Sunday time-killer. I knew nothing about this movie going in, other than the reviews were fairly decent. Well, I got tricked—it turned out to be one of those “faith-based movies” that I try to stay very, very far away from. Fortunately, the religious angle took a backseat to the main story, about a priest suffering from a crisis of faith after some heavy-duty wartime tragedies. Like my other Florida movie, this one was also forgettable, but it did do its job. (6)

WILDLIFE (2018)—Finally, an excellent movie! Based on Richard Ford’s novel and directed by Paul Dano (who was so good playing Brian Wilson in Love and Mercy), this film takes place in 1960. An adolescent boy copes with the breakdown of his parents’ marriage. Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal are outstanding as his mom and dad. (9)

BEAUTIFUL BOY (2018)—Here’s the other totally worthy movie I saw this month. Steve Carell plays real-life writer David Sheff, whose son (Timothée Chalamet) is having some major drug-dependancy issues. Great performances by all involved, including Maura Tierney as his wife and Amy Ryan as his ex. (9)

BOY ERASED (2018)—A preacher (Russell Crowe) and his wife (Nicole Kidman) send their homosexual son to a rehab center where they try to pray his gay away. There’s an admirable story here about the evils of conversion therapy, and Joel Edgerton is deliciously evil villain, but I found the movie mostly lifeless. (6)

RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET (2018)—The original 2012 movie, Wreck-It Ralph, was one of my favorite Disney animated movies. This long-delayed follow-up features the same basic cast, and a pretty good story—at least until the final 20 minutes. So many Disney cartoon films have to end with a gigantic, seemingly unstoppable villain who is ultimately brought down by our much smaller protagonist. So I was rolling my eyes when the filmmakers went the same, tired route with this movie. But the first half is fun. Unfortunately, most of the characters we loved from the film movie are given short shrift in the sequel, which is way, way too long. The one truly great sequence in the sequel involves Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) interacting with all of the other famous Disney princesses. There’s also a charming song written by Alan Menken. (8)