TxMike

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Reviews

All My Life
(2020)

Based on a true story, new couple deal with his diagnosis.
It is Saturday evening, my wife and I searched for a suitable movie to watch after our weekly steak and wine dinner and came across this one streaming on Prime.

It is based on real people and their true story just a few years prior. They are both single young adults when they meet quite by chance at a bar. They go on a date, they hit it off right away, to save money they later take the plunge to share a residence.

Then he gets a medical diagnosis that is severe, much of the story is their dealing with this as they plan a wedding. There is even a strong "go fund me" element.

I really enjoyed Jessica Rothe as the young lady, Jenn Carter. She is lovely and energetic and her portrayal seemed correct and authentic. As well was "Glee" veteran, Harry Shum Jr. As the young man, Solomon 'Sol' Chau.

It is hard to watch in places because of the diagnosis but overall it is an uplifting story about making the best of the time we each have, no matter how long or how short it might be.

It was also nice to see locations we are familiar with, in and around S. Louisiana and the New Orleans area.

Good movie.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
(2025)

The old gang is back, all a bit older.
Renée Zellweger was just past 30 for the first Bridget Jones movie, now she will turn 56 later this year, 2025. Today is Valentines Day and it seemed fitting that my wife and I decided to watch this movie, released just yesterday, streaming on Peacock.

It has a very slow start, we both looked at each other after about one-half hour and said, "Are you enjoying this?" We weren't and both hoped it would soon get good. All the characters were annoying and inappropriate, even the kids. In one scene the little girl is running around the house and banging on a pot for the longest. In social gatherings all the lady friends are intrusive and most of the interactions are silly. Fortunately, by tolerating all that it did pick up during its second half.

As this story starts Bridget's husband died in an unfortunate accident four years earlier, leaving her with a young son and an even younger daughter. She was still trying to cope and had not been back to her job as a TV show producer. All her friends wanted to know when she would find a man. One even started her a dating ap.

Later, as the story winds down, good things start to happen for Bridget and the kids. The son is worried that he might forget his dad and his science teacher helps by reassuring him that his dad is everywhere, his energy is, because energy can neither be created or destroyed, it just changes its form.

I would watch the second half again, but NOT the first half, neither interesting nor entertaining. Now I have to get the DVD from my public library and re-watch the original Bridget Jones movie. The closing credits contains a number of still shots from that original.

Expedition Killer Whale
(2024)

The pack ice Killer Whales of Antarctica.
As the program begins we witness a few instances of were a group of Killer Whales (Orcas) cooperate to get a meal by washing a seal off a piece of floating ice. I am a scientist and I found this presentation totally captivating.

The study presented here is of a group of what they call "pack ice Killer Whales", they live and hunt in Antarctica. Pack ice are the medium sized pieces of ice that have broken off but remain packed close to each other. Lone seals commonly will climb onto one of suitable size and take a rest period.

The Orcas are social animals that cooperate to hunt and share their killings. In the area of the study remain about 100 of them and lately their number has been decreasing by about 5 per year. For energy and well-being they need about one seal per day per Orca so hunting is their primary task. They know where the seals hang out.

Their usual method is to roan the waters and look for seals. An adult Orca can, while stationary near an ice patch, raise itself vertically about 10 feet out of the water and can take a close look at the prey and the configuration of the ice. Then, apparently with a way to communicate with the other 6 or 8 Orcas, organize a well-planned maneuver to make waves to wash the seal into the water where they can kill and eat it. Sometimes first doing maneuvers under the ice to break it up a bit.

The program also includes use of equipment to listen to and record the communication sounds of the Orcas, plus a Marine Biologist looking for Orca poop so that DNA sequencing can shed light on the diet and health of the Orcas.

Really good Nature program.

Nova: Egypt's Tombs of Amun
(2025)
Episode 4, Season 52

Excavations of Egyptian tombs dating from the 25th Dynasty.
This is an interesting program even though I am not particularly interested in ancient Egyptian. I learned a lot but I found myself wishing it included captions. Several of the Archeologists had such thick accents that it was often difficult to understand what they were saying in English.

For example, they often mentioned something that sounded like "God's wife of a moon." So I did a search, I found that it is actually "God's Wife of Amun", a figure who was the highest-ranking priestess of the Amun cult. The cult was centered in Thebes during the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth dynasties (circa 740-525 BC).

The program features recent excavations of a featureless triangle of sandy land bordered by highways. From aerial views it looks to me like maybe a few acres. As the dug they found artifacts that were consistent with burial tombs. They found a number of them, one had inscriptions that they concluded was a female's who was a "God's Wife", a person who could wield power comparable to a pharaoh.

Interesting program.

A Patch of Blue
(1965)

"Just marry me, you don't have to ask me."
I managed to catch this movie on the "Movies!" channel via TV antenna. The year 1965 was a memorable one, I was in my second year of college. I had never heard of this movie before today. Filmed in various locations in the Los Angeles area.

Elizabeth Hartman, almost 22 during filming, plays the part of 18-yr-old Selina D'Arcey. She is blind and frankly has a terrible home life. She doesn't know much and her uncaring mother seems to be fine with that. She is able to get a ride to the park, she has a usual spot among the roots of a tree. She also usually has a case of beads that she strings.

She meets Sidney Poitier, about 38 during filming, playing the part of Gordon Ralfe. He is a patient man who is motivated to help Selina. Through their interactions he shows her how to shop in a grocery store, how to use a phone booth to make a call, how to signal for a safe crossing in traffic, and things like that.

Shelley Winters, who was good in everything, plays the part of her uncaring mother Rose-Ann D'Arcey. Rose has no feeling that Selina can be anything more than a helpless blind person. Being racist she strongly objects to Gordon when she finds out about their friendship.

So that is the movie, the enlightenment of Selina and having her get onto a path for a better life. Gordon was the only one to care anything about her, she really wanted him to marry her but he, being wiser, realized that Selina needed much more exposure to the realities of life.

Good movie! In B&W.

Reality Bites: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
(2025)

One of the weaker "Hannah Swensen" movies.
My wife and I have watched many of the Hannah Swensen mysteries and this one, to me, seems a bit weaker and more silly than the others. However, my wife commented to me, "They are all silly."

But the real question is, does it entertain? And it does, a bit, but mostly in very silly ways.

Alison Sweeney is, of course, Hannah Swensen and she acts a bit like a teenager. The reason, she has a keen interest in the handsome, single District Attorney and in his presence just can't hold it together. She keeps waiting for him to ask her out.

The mystery here is twofold, a man has been arrested for several home burglaries and he is about to go to trial. But another burglary happens and Hannah wonders if it is a copycat and, if so, why?

Second, a film crew is in and using Hannah's bakery as their set for a popular cooking show, the host is Connie Mack who, it turns out, can't really cook but was chosen for her screen presence. Then on day two of shooting they came in and find her young producer dead in the restaurant. Is this connected to the trial, or just random?

So, as usual, Hannah and her friends look for clues and devise a plan to try to catch the new burglar in the act.

Again, as a story and as a movie it isn't that good but it does have a bit of entertaining value. Especially if it is free, like we found it streaming on Peacock.

(Trivia - Connie Mack, born in 1862, was an American professional baseball catcher, manager, and team owner. Mack holds records for the most wins, losses, ties, and games managed in Major League Baseball history. There once was a stadium in Philadelphia named after him.)

Conclave
(2024)

Unusual conclave to select a new Pope.
I grew up Catholic, I recall at least four or five conclaves to select a new Pope, beginning with Pope John XXIII in 1958 when I was 12. While I never paid a lot of attention to the selection of new Popes, I do know that it is not unusual for an unknown Cardinal to emerge as the new Pope when the usual favorites failed to get a two-thirds majority quickly. This movie plays on that concept.

The movie begins when the Pope is found deceased in this bed. The main character is Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence, he works at the Vatican and is assigned to manage the process of gathering Cardinals from all over the world for the Conclave to select the successor.

The movie was filmed in Italy with a suitable location filling in for the Vatican. The entire move (as far as I can recall) takes place entirely within the Vatican, we see the goings on inside the Conclave, plus we witness the unofficial, side meetings where certain Cardinals try to work out strategy and in particular to block a certain Cardinal who they think would be unsuitable. Politics within the Church.

Overall it is a good movie but uses one particular point of contention within the Church regarding roles and acceptability and ends with quite a surprise. Is it realistic? I don't know.

The key roles are played by other fine, experienced actors, including Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini, one of the favorites for election, as well as John Lithgow as Cardinal Tremblay, another of the favorites.

My wife and I watched it at home, streaming on Peacock. Good movie for anyone who enjoys this type of mystery.

The King Tide
(2023)

Isolated community with a supernatural element.
A strong supernatural element, but not a religious element. An unusual movie about an unusual community off the coast of Newfoundland. My wife and I enjoyed it however it is not a movie I would like to watch again. Streaming on Prime.

There isn't much backstory but a modest sized group of families decided some time back that they would isolate themselves on a small island away from the mainland. They would have no contact with people on the mainland, none of them would travel to the mainland, no radio or TV. As one 10-yr-old asked, "Do they speak like we do on the mainland?"

(While the story is completely different I thought of the year 2000 movie "The Beach" where a group wanting to escape from society and the modern world formed their community on an isolated island and only had limited contact, mainly for supplies, with the mainland.)

This community has made themselves self-sufficient, there is a school, a medic, fishermen catch enough Cod to dry and salt it away for the winter. One passing comment, "Seems you are drinking the whiskey as fast as you make it", indicates they have some sort of crops that can be fermented and distilled.

Anyway, with that as background the movie starts with a man hearing the faint cry of a baby at water's edge. He and the others go and find an overturned boat, inside they find a newborn girl, they have no idea where it came from. But right away the rescuer sees his arm wound heal right away when he came into contact with the baby.

And that is the thrust of the story. The man and his wife adopt the baby and name her Isla. The story quickly cuts to about 10 years later, we see a quick scene where island people are lined up outside the home of Isla, for healings of various sorts, including face wounds from a fight or the hangover from too much whiskey.

In essence, they recognized the supernatural power of being in her presence and were treating it as a toy, Isla didn't mind, it was all she had ever known and perhaps assumed this sort of thing is common "on the mainland." People also noticed that her parents didn't seem to age since Isla arrived.

That is all set up pretty early in the movie and there wouldn't be much story-telling tension if everything remained in order. But it doesn't, some want to rebel and get off the island, some want Isla to be used in ways that may not be ethical, tension grows to the point where it becomes a crisis and things develop in a way no one could have foreseen.

It is a very interesting movie of an interesting concept, a fable of sorts.

Christmas Island
(2023)

Corporate pilot who can't stay on the ground, and an air traffic controller who won't fly.
Although it is a bit past the Christmas season I found this Hallmark movie on DVD at my public library. Plus the subject attracted us, our 50-something son is a corporate pilot and routinely flies trips like the one depicted here.

Rachel Skarsten is commercial pilot Kate Gabriel. She has been flying some of the less desirable jobs, but accumulating lots of flight time and experience. Now she is getting a great break, the long-time captain for a small Los Angeles based family business just retired and they hire her as Captain for their scheduled trip to Switzerland for business over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Andrew W. Walker is Oliver MacLeod, air traffic controller and resident of Christmas Island, a community in Nova Scotia. He happens to be on duty the day Kate's plane is heading into bad weather over the East Coast and the Atlantic, requiring all flights towards Europe to land and wait out the storm. The only airport with available slots is the small one at Christmas Island.

Being a typical Hallmark movie (a desirable trait) it is clean with no violence, no bad language, all the characters are wholesome. The small community has a long Christmas tradition so much of the story is having the flight crew and their passenger family, which comprise the husband, the wife, a teenage daughter, and a 7-ish son, integrate into the local festivities for the couple of days they have to stay there.

Of course a love interest develops and the standard one "Hallmark Kiss" comes during the last minute of the movie. It is a well-told story and I found Rachel Skarsten to be a level above the standard actress in roles like this one.

Good movie.

Here
(2024)

Where is "Here", and what does it witness over history?
Much has been made in the advanced publicity for this movie of reuniting the "Forrest Gump" gang, Hanks, Wright, and director Zemeckis. While that is all appropriate it in a way takes away from what this movie is really about. It has lots of stars playing lots of interesting characters but at its core it is a story about a location, a piece of land, a room in a house, and what happens there over the eons.

I say eons because the story actually begins on a prehistoric Earth when dinosaurs roamed then met their eventual fate when asteroids allegedly wiped them out. We see a time-lapse of the land changing, of vegetation growing, of Native Americans arriving and hunting. But always this one same plot of land.

Then, in the 1700s we see trees being felled and a large house being built, we later learn it was a Franklin home, yes that family which included Benjamin. We get quick glimpses of historical events, like the revolt against England, the early beginnings of aviation, the flu epidemic of 1918, WW2, student deferments during the Vietnam time, the invention of television, the 1960s arrival of The Beatles. However none of that is depicted dryly, the story shows the people and how they participated in or were influenced by the changes. Many times a TV running in the background helps us know the time, like watching Jane Fonda exercise or a clip from the old Dean Martin and Ed Sullivan TV shows.

The unique cinematography technique is to use a static camera and standard focal length from one spot in the room where family activities commonly took place. About the same view as a person in one seat in a theater viewing a stage play that covers many generations. Or a person sitting in the corner of that room for several hundred years.

Tom Hanks is Richard. His family were not the original residents of the house but are mainly featured in it.

Robin Wright is Margaret who eventually marries Richard. They have children, Richard puts his painting passion on hold to get a job that makes money to support his growing family. They get old in the house, and as the story ends both of them are not far from the ends of their lives.

My wife and I watched this movie at home, streaming on Prime. Because we are in our 70s and have seen a lot, and can identify with many of the tings depicted here, we found it totally absorbing and entertaining. Maybe younger viewers would not identify so well. But we consider this a fine movie, one of the better ones we have seen in recent years.

The Amazing Maurice
(2022)

Entertaining story with excellent animation.
I understand this movie is based on a popular children's book. However, being in my 70s, I don't read childrens' books anymore. I found the DVD of this movie at my public library, my wife and I watched it at home. The cast of voice actors is very good and it all comes over very well.

This is really a couple of stories within a story. It starts out with the plight of a village overrun with rats that do way too much damage. "The Amazing Maurice" shows up and bargains with the villagers, for money he will eradicate the rats. As they start paying him, a seemingly clueless young man playing a type of flute shows up, as he walks through the village all the rats start to follow him as if he is the Pied Piper. Soon they all jump into the river and float downstream.

We quickly find that the flutist, the rats, and the Maurice are all in this together, it is their money-making scheme. But soon a bigger menace comes to the fore and most of the movie is Maurice and his variety of English-speaking rats working to eliminate it and its threat.

It isn't easy to describe but it is interesting to watch.

We were entertained.

You're Cordially Invited
(2025)

Marginal comedy with pervasive filthy language, Witherspoon and Ferrell have done much better.
My wife and I watched this on its first day of release streaming on Prime. We are fans of the actors, especially Reese Witherspoon. We didn't expect this to be a particularly good movie, based on the trailer, but it is even more marginal and less entertaining than we expected. Witherspoon and Ferrell are both producers, I suppose they needed the money.

The premise is simple and not particularly novel - two weddings get accidentally booked for the same June 1st date. But being a rather small venue, on a small island, they normally only can book one wedding on a given weekend. Because the mix-up was the fault of the venue they agreed to accommodate both of them. The daughter of the man (Ferrell) and the sister of the woman (Witherspoon). That double-booking is the source of most of the comedic antics that follow.

I have two main problems with the way the movie is executed. First the characters are way too free with their foul language, "hard R" language, even the "Muther-F" exclamation. That just seemed out of character for otherwise nice southern people (Filmed in Atlanta) and represents lazy script writing.

The other is how stupid much of the humor is. I suppose it seemed appropriate and funny on paper but as scenes in a movie most of them do not work. However, I did enjoy the scene with the alligator in bed with the Ferrell character.

Did we enjoy it? Somewhat, some of it was entertaining but more of it was not. But hey! It was free because we already pay the Prime fee and we didn't have anything else to watch.

But I am disappointed that Witherspoon agreed to such a lame movie. With Ferrell I sort of expect it.

Nova: Extreme Airport Engineering
(2025)
Episode 2, Season 52

The modernization of New York's LaGuardia Airport.
Ask me ahead of time if I would enjoy a 50-minute documentary on the modernization of New York's LaGuardia Airport and I would probably have responded "BORING!" But I made a personal commitment to viewing the NOVA programs on PBS.

However, having watched this program I can say it is just the opposite of boring. Its name has changed over the years but the site was first opened as an airport in the 1930s. It is north of Brooklyn, just a short swim south of Riker's Island. I flew in and out of it just once, about 10 years ago, and I remember it as a tired, unattractive and crowded airport. In fact it gained the reputation as one of the worst in the States.

The renovation project started in 2016 and took about eight years and eight billion dollars. The greatest task was to demolish old structures and build replacement structures, and re-routing taxiways, without shutting down the airport operations. In fact, to disturb airport operations as little as possible. When completed what they have is a completely new, modern, attractive airport that looks nothing like it did when the project started.

How did they accomplish that? The documentary covers all that and it is fascinating. It gives a detailed, inside view of modern design and construction practices, with ample profiles of the individuals in various key roles. A marvelous engineering and construction job, and a very well presented documentary of the whole thing.

A must see for anyone interested in this sort of thing.

On TV, by antenna in my attic, on my local PBS station.

Reagan
(2024)

Good profile of the important events in the life of Reagan.
My wife and I enjoyed this movie at home, on DVD from our public library. We are in our 70s, we lived through most of the things depicted in the movie so we probably related better than some of the younger crowd.

In fact Reagan played a critical role in my own life, even though he didn't know it. He was governor of California in 1967 when I was looking at graduate schools. My first choice was Berkeley but as governor he had put a freeze on financial aid to out-of-state students. As a student in Louisiana I was locked out and so accepted an offer from my second choice, a Midwest university.

It all worked out well for me, and my eventual kids, but my life likely would have been greatly different, had I attended Berkeley in the late 1960s with the prevailing culture at the time. So Ronald Reagan and I are forever intertwined.

I am glad we watched this movie. Although, of course, it contains some fictionalized elements, it pretty much follows the important events in his life, his stint as California governor, and his stint as US President. He will probably be most remembered for his role in bringing down the Berlin Wall.

Dennis Quaid, although he has his own distinctive voice, and looks different, ended up doing a fine job as Ronald Reagan. Same can be said for Penelope Ann Miller who played his second wife, Nancy.

Jon Voight has an interesting role as Russian Viktor Petrovich. He is the continuity through the decades, essentially narrating Reagan's story to a younger Russian agent and the movie being a series of flashbacks to Reagan.

Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music
(2025)

Interesting look back but way too much commercial breaks.
I must admit I no longer watch SNL diligently as I did back in the 1970s and 1980s. It is more a matter of wanting to go to bed earlier rather than losing interest. I will always be a fan of SNL.

So it was with great anticipation that I settled in last night to view this retrospective, highlights from 50 years of SNL. I didn't think I'd stick with it, I figured there would be little programming time and lots of commercials.

I was happily surprised that the first full 15 minutes was program, then a rather brief 3-minute commercial. I thought to myself, "This is good. I can tolerate three minutes of commercials every 15 minutes." However, that didn't last long. Oh, the commercials stayed at just a bit over three minutes but the content between commercials kept shrinking as the night wore on until I had to give up at around the two-hour mark. Just too many commercials for the amount of content.

I was disappointed but I do appreciate the retrospective that I did watch. It was done very well and it was nice to see most of the musical groups featured. I found the rap and hip-hop rather tedious, I never did care for any of it. But the legitimate musical acts were all interesting.

So, the next day I found the program streaming on Peacock so I was able to finish it with only a few one-minute commercials. I am glad I did, the last 30 minutes or so are the best, in my view, lots of famous guests and singing groups are showcased and it drives home how influential SNL has been in the music industry.

Thanks NBC for putting this together.

Alien: Romulus
(2024)

Nothing new here, I am glad I did not pay to watch it.
I was able to borrow the DVD of this movie from my public library. As a "free rental" all I had to lose was a couple of hours of my time. Being retired, my time isn't worth very much.

This story offers very little new, if anything. As the movie starts it is the year 2142 and we meet several young people on a planet 62 light-years away from Earth. They are working in a mining operation and with enough credits will be able to earn a leave. But the company is short-handed, they change the requirements. So, instead of working for 5 or 6 more years they decide to commandeer a ship and look up an old spacecraft to see if they can salvage enough fuel to make the trip on their own.

So that is what starts the story for most of the movie, not everything goes smoothly then all heck breaks loose when they encounter live alien beings dead set on killing all of them. Most of the movie is this cat-N-mouse game between the humans and the aliens to see who can survive.

After a short while it all becomes very tedious. Nothing that we haven't seen before. I suppose for die-hard alien fans who enjoy any kind of human vs alien action this is a satisfactory movie, but not for me. At least I am glad I didn't pay any money to see it.

Love Across Time
(2024)

Love story that spans over two centuries.
I like Aubrey Reynolds as an actress, she never seems like she is "acting", she doesn't seem like she is delivering lines. She always seems like she is just responding to the situation, as it should be. Also she doesn't wear much eye makeup and that helps her look beautiful, not artificial.

Here she is Chelsea Grayson, working for a USA firm that owns a very old English mansion that has fallen somewhat in disrepair. She travels there to facilitate a sale, the thought being it would be sold to ether tear down or be converted into some different type of property.

To save money her firm decides she will stay there for a few days instead of a hotel. She is warned, don't go into the basement, some say it is haunted. Being the curious type she goes anyway and sees a floor length mirror, it has a faint blue glow, and in the mirror she sees what looks like a nobleman from a different era. Like from 1799.

She meets the man in the mirror, Toby-Alexander Smith as Charles Barkley V. The script even has a few jokes about the USA basketball player of the same name. The story gets a bit more complex from then on but the two of them eventually start working on a plan to save the old mansion. It even involves an investment idea and a trick borrowed from BTTF 3 where Doc Brown writes a letter from the 1800s to be delivered to Marty in current time.

All in all a superior movie of this genre, very well made and entertaining. My wife and I watched it at home, streaming on Prime.

Eraserhead
(1977)

My conclusion? David Lynch might have been one of the great cinema frauds of all time.
David Lynch died this month, January 2025, at the age of 78. While I had seen several of his movies I had not seen "Eraserhead" and found it as a Criterion Collection movie at my public library. So I watched it, hoping to be amazed by his early vision.

It was just the opposite. That it is in B&W didn't bother me, I have watched many fine movies presented in B&W. What did bother me was the strangeness without any apparent reason for the strangeness. Several really weird characters, not the least of which was the severely deformed fetus-like newborn baby. The main protagonist, Henry, always had the look of either bewilderment, fear, or anger. The interiors are all dirty-looking. Where is the satisfaction for watching an abortion like this?

I read a few "10" reviews here, some of them argue that Lynch had a very complex reason for the story and images presented in the movie. I say, if you have to guess what the filmmaker had in mind then it cannot be a worthwhile movie. I chose not to try to guess.

To me, David Lynch might have been one of the great cinema frauds of all time.

The Wild Robot
(2024)

Inventive animated story but maybe not for young children.
My wife and I watched this at home, streaming on Peacock. We enjoyed it, the visuals are great and the voice acting is appropriate. However, as one reviewer states:

(The movie is) ...laden with intense unnecessary language that felt unsuitable for young children, such as words like "kill," "die," "dead," "hate," "jerk," "murder" and phrases like "are you here to kill us?" These were used repeatedly...)

And I too noticed that, while it is all true to the story it does make it more suitable for mature audiences.

This is set in the rather far future, as an example a view is shown of the Golden Gate bridge with the traffic lanes under water, presumably from the inevitable rise in sea levels. That would represent a really great rise.

A company makes robots that can be purchased and they become a useful adjunct to the family. They include a learning mode so not much pre-prep is required.

In this story a new "ROZ" crashes to the ground on a medium sized isolated island, its shipping crate cracked open. Thinking this was the robot's new home it went about integrating itself to the land and the many live creatures populating the island. ROZ quickly rescues an egg which hatches as a baby Goose which of course "imprints" on ROZ, as its mother.

Anyway from that point a number of story lines develop, including the baby Goose learning how to swim and how to fly for eventual migration. Also a signal gets the robot manufacturer to send for a rescue mission of ROZ, the lost robot and results in a lot of activity.

A very entertaining movie, it has an overall theme of reconciling differences and learning to cooperate for more effective lives.

Nova: What Are UFOs?
(2025)
Episode 1, Season 52

Technical examination of UFO sightings.
This program was broadcast on January 22, 2025 on PBS. I will begin my comments with this - I am a Scientist (though not an Astrophysicist) and I do not believe that any of the various unidentified sightings over the years can be attributed to intelligent alien life from other worlds, not from inside our Milky Way Galaxy nor from a "galaxy far, far away." Even the fastest space travel is slow compared to the distances involved.

The general mood I pick up from the contributors here is that they generally share this view. Several of the more high-profile "alien" sightings are covered and experts in pertinent fields attempt to provide an Earthly explanation for a "plausible" cause.

For example, it is pointed out many of the recordings were made using infrared (IR) cameras in aircraft. The thing about IR photography is it detects heat, and in particular differences in temperature. It is difficult to visually make sense of an IR camera image.

Another point brought out in the program is how big the universe is, how far apart stars are from each other, and how far other galaxies are. While it is possible that an alien race from many lightyears away might have developed a technology for fast interstellar travel it is also highly unlikely, from what we know about the laws of physics. From my own thought, why would an intelligent alien race visit Earth's atmosphere, be noticed by a bunch of people over the years, yet never actually make their presence known?

The program also covers a bit about the various scientific programs being set up to obtain more data, measurements that will allow a scientific analysis instead of just relying on anecdotal impressions from various sightings.

Anyway this is a good program for anyone who is interested in the subject and wants to know what the experts think. Each of us is still welcome to believe what we want.

The Man with One Red Shoe
(1985)

Mostly spy silliness, Hanks and Singer make it interesting.
This is not a particularly good movie. I found it on the "Movies!" channel, broadcast and received via my antenna in the attic. Today all TV networks were covering the new POTUS inauguration and I just had to find something else to watch, so this came up.

I like Tom Hanks, I have seen most of his movies, starting with 1984's "Splash." In this one, just a year later, he is Richard, an accomplished violinist and teacher. Through some misdirection he is pointed out at the airport, arriving with one brown shoe and one red athletic shoe, thus the derivation of the title. A group in Washington D. C. are led to believe he is a secret agent and that sets up the whole movie of spy silliness.

The movie has a number of good actors but the only other one I will mention is Lori Singer who is one of the spies, Maddy. And as fate and the script would have it, they eventually fall into a relationship that is more than spy chasing. She was my favorite on the old TV series "Fame" where she played cello and in real life she plays cello.

Entertaining only because of the cast.

White Bird
(2023)

In France, the 1940s, Nazi occupation.
This movie actually opens in modern day New York, a boy of 15 (Bryce Gheisar as Julian Albans) is starting at a new school. In conversation he uses the term "the school I left" but was quickly corrected, he was expelled from the school for poor behavior towards a fellow student.

It turns out his grandmother, Helen Mirren as Grand-mère, is a world famous artist in town for a special event honoring her life's work. She visits Julian and she is the one who corrects him. Then, the rest of this movie is basically a flashback to Autumn 1942 in a small French community after the Nazi Germans took control, then spanning 1943 and I presume part of 1944. With a short return to modern day New York at the end of the movie to show how Julian's attitude was changed by his grandmother's story.

British actress Ariella Glaser, about 14 or 15, is the main character, Sara Blum, a Jewish schoolgirl who was persecuted, had to go into hiding, and who grew up to be the artist and grandmother of Julien. She tells him her story to illustrate how attitude and behavior are everything in human existence. Using the analogy that darkness cannot overcome darkness, you need the light and that is the human experience.

Also good is young Australian actor Orlando Schwerdt as Julien Beaumier, a young boy who had been impacted by polio and now wore an awkward leg brace. Julien was a kind person who played a big role in Sara's survival and who was the inspiration for naming the grandson Julian.

Also good is American actress Gillian Anderson as Vivienne Beaumier, helping hide young Sara and serving as a surrogate mother in the absence of her parents.

This is a very good and well-made movie with a worthwhile story. The young actress that plays teenage Sara is remarkably good.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
(1947)

Cary Grant and Shirley Temple together in a Rom-Com.
I managed to catch this today on the "Movies!" channel via antenna, while preparing for the big freeze coming in a couple of days. (Forecast down to 14F on Wednesday morning!)

Cary Grant (42 during filming) is artist Dick Nugent, a bachelor and prone to party with his friends. He ends up in court after an altercation at a night spot, he is facing the judge, Judge Margaret Turner.

He gets off temporarily then finds himself at a local high school to give a presentation on art, one of the students is Shirley Temple (18 during filming) as Susan Turner. Soon Nugent finds out that the girl is the younger sister of Judge Margaret Turner. He also quickly finds out the girl is infatuated with him. After all, Susan will soon turn 18 so what is 25 years' age difference?

This is a 1940s Rom-Com, it is clean and humorous situations arise as Nugent tries to stay out of trouble but "dating" Susan on the advice of a specialist, thinking her youthful crush on his will end quickly.

Grant (Archie Leach) is ideal for this kind of role, as popular as he was I think he was a bit underrated as an actor. An entertaining and enjoyable romp.

In the Land of Saints & Sinners
(2023)

Irish wars in 1974.
While this is not a true story per se, it tells a story that is authentic and could have been true. It also has a group of fine actors in good form.

Set and filmed in Northern Ireland, it is 1974 and the IRA has been active for some time. This story focuses on a small group that wreaks havoc and, as the movie begins, we see them set off a car bomb in town with very harsh side effects, including children who are victims.

The leader of that cell is Kerry Condon as Doireann McCann. She is very effective in her role and a militant hell-bent on achieving her goals. She is the real star here.

Her main antagonist becomes Liam Neeson as Finbar Murphy. In the movie "Leon" he would have been called a "cleaner." He takes the target, commonly with a photo, gets the target and buries his body in a remote area, at the same time planting a tree on the grave. Based on the number of young trees, he has been a busy man. Then he gets his payday.

Now he is getting tired of the business with full intent to stay home more and start a new hobby - gardening. However, when he notices the scars and bruises on the young neighbor girl, and encounters the rogue responsible, he takes one final job onto himself, not for pay but for payback.

As it turns out, the victim is the younger brother of Doireann McCann so she sets out to avenge his murder. That ultimately results in a showdown with Finbar.

The movie is well made and gives a fresh glimpse into what it was like 50-ish years ago. I watched it at home, streaming on Prime.

Harold and the Purple Crayon
(2024)

Clean and entertaining fantasy movie.
This is a fantasy movie based on a popular book. The movie starts with just line drawing animation. Harold and his two imaginary friends, a Moose and a Porcupine. Whatever Harold can imagine, then draw an outline with his purple crayon, becomes reality. Then Harold draws a door with his magical purple crayon, opens it, and finds himself in the real world of Providence, Rhode Island.

Zachary Levi has been a favorite of ours for a number of years, he is the real world Harold. He knows nothing about the real world so he immediately has to learn how it works and how people communicate.

Next the Moose and the Porcupine make their way through the door, each takes on a human form.

The movie is just made for entertainment, however there is a good message embedded - to never quit dreaming and never limit yourself. The good person that befriends them is Zooey Deschanel as Terry and her young son. The bad guy that creates problems is Jemaine Clement as Gary who desperately wants Terry but she wants no part of him.

My wife and I watched it at home, on DVD from our public library. Just pleasant, quirky entertainment after Saturday evening steak and wine dinner, with chocolate cake of course!

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