LauraAnnG

I often watch a movie these days and up thinking "I wish I had those two hours back. What a waste."

This movie was just the opposite. Two hours very well spent. It has a great story that made me laugh and cry.

It has a fantastic cast. Every single one of the actors in this is stellar.

It has great music.

And it has food. Oh my goodness the food. Served family style - there are huge bowls of streaming pasta and pans of lasagne. Plates of cannoli.

The food looks so good that it made me feel faint.

Even writing this, my stomach is rumbling.

I'm not Italian but I am fond of Italian-leaning movies like Moonstruck, and I totally love the Inspector Montalbano detective series (it takes place in Sicily and is very food-forward).

I didn't know about the "sauce versus gravy" question. Hmmm.

So this movie is about love and family and grief and hope and friendship and perseverance. It is easy on the eyes - not overly directed or overwhelmingly produced. It's about growing old and staying young. And it's about food.

I recommend it. 9 stars but it probably could be 10. It's not like "Best Picture" quality but it is sweet and has heart. I have nothing bad to say about it.

I need to preface this by saying while I'm not a medical professional, I have unfortunately spent a lot of time as a patient in E. D.s and the medical writing here is not bad. It seems fairly accurate. In other words they say the right things. So the show has that going for it.

I haven't seen The Pitt, which everyone is raving about right now. But I have watched most medical dramas since "E. R." because I enjoy them. There've been some good ones lately (for example, "Transplant" is a hidden gem and much better than this series).

I watched all ten episodes of Pulse in a day. I usually don't do that but I did want to say that I finished the "season".

This is despite the fact I did not at all like many of the characters including the lead (female) doctor -- Danny Simms. I found her incredibly annoying and never really understood (and I tried!) what her numerous problems are. She is just incredibly unlikable.

There are similar issues with the other major characters. I feel incredibly ambivalent about them and in the end did not at all find Doctors Phillips, Cole and Elijah likable or even relatable. Basically they are, all of them, not very nice people. There's nothing really redeeming about them.

But I shine a light on the Simms character as she's so prominent in this show and is just such an unpleasant person.

There are a couple of characters that I did like: Luis and Gabriel (both are RNs and I think Luis is the Charge Nurse -- an important role in the E. D.).

So the character drama part of this show pretty much sucks. The medical part is not bad and in fact I did get caught up in the stories of the patients. But those stories are secondary to the character drama plots and they are not enough to carry this series.

I also very much like the music.

The timey-wimey aspect where we see flashbacks did not bother me -- it seems it has become fairly standard and they do "warn" you with various clues so you're not surprised.

Bottom line is that I'm not looking forward to another season of this.

I am a huge Montalbano fan and am grateful that this series was made available to me thru "Walter Presents". I watch this in the original Italian with English subtitles and the subtitles seem very well done.

It's wonderful. Very different from the frenetic police procedurals done in the U. S. and it takes some adjustment I think for people used to them to take in 100 minute movie-length stories.

It also has a lot of character drama in it - of course. But it rarely gets in the way of the storytelling.

The plots are good. They almost all have a twist and so I got used to not being able to guess the "culprit".

One of the reasons to watch these RAI Fiction productions, I have found (like Montalbano) are the exteriors. They are remarkably beautiful -- stunning -- here. So are many of the interiors. It is a breathtaking production with exquisite lighting. Simply gorgeous.

The actors are wonderful. There is the male lead (the Inspector), his "bagman" the Sergeant, the Coroner, the nasty boss, and all the rest who we've come to expect in a procedural like this.

Plus there's the cast of characters who we see in each of the "movies" and who we become accustomed to (Bambinella, Falco, etc.)

Lino Guanciale is wonderful as the lead. He is the cornerstone of the production and as he moves through the two seasons he glides, effortlessly.

I wanted to mention one thing. This takes place in 1930's Italy and the Fascists are at full force. I know very little about Italy during this time and it is horrifying to watch what is happening there as the population lives in fear of a dictator and his violent regime, where people can be disappeared off the streat and thugs roam at will terrorizing the population.

There is another Italian series that takes place during this time: Detective De Luca. There are only four episodes of De Luca. There are ten of Ricciardi (and I wish there were more)