News of the World

 I wouldn't call Tom Hanks an action star but if you consider films like Castaway and Captain Philips, News of the World would fall into this same wheelhouse of action. It's a travel Western about a man, Captain Kidd (Tom Hanks) who travels from town to town reading the news - newspapers and literacy both being scarce at this time in American history. Kidd ends up with a kid, Johanna (Helena Zengel - nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance here) and Kidd has agreed to take the kid across the country to her only living relatives after her parents are killed and Johanna was raised by the Kiowa tribe (indigenous people of the Great Plains). Johanna has forgotten how to speak English or German or whatever language she spoke before. Kidd is going on this road trip, because well, we wouldn't have a movie otherwise and it's Tom Hanks (big old softy). They have many adventures along the way and by the end of the film I found myself rather emotionally invested despite the simplicity of the story. Helena Zengel is bloody great in this. It's one of the better films to come out of 2020 so hitch your wagon to this one and giddy up. Catch it on streaming services.  

Judas and the Black Messiah

This year we have two films set in the same 1960s era, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and this one, Judas and the Black Messiah - you should watch them both. Daniel Kaluuya (the dude from Get Out) won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his role as Black Panther founder, Fred Hampton. He's nominated for best actor in a leading role for an Oscar. Why the Globes nominated him for best supporting when he should have been nominated for lead remains a mystery. Fred is the messiah and Bill O'Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) is Judas - an undercover snitch for the FBI who infiltrated the Panthers as a way to weasel his way out of serving grand-theft -auto jail time. It's a true story and a crazy one at that. It makes for a great movie. And this is a great movie. The cast is phenomenal, the story is riveting, and the direction is spot on. It's reminiscent of such films as Goodfellas, Selma, and Donnie Brasco - I loved it; learned lots about the Panthers and Fred Hampton. It's one of the best films of 2021. Catch it on streaming services. 

Tell Me Your Secrets

 Bananas! Like totally bananas!! Ridiculous! What was that? Okay, I don't know if this is a recommendation (this is what my blog is supposed to be about) or a confession that I binged watched the whole thing. I don't even know where to start. It's an acid trip. Okay, this is my best shot. It's about a woman, Emma (played by Lily Rabe) who served time for her alleged involvement with a serial killer. Emma has some memory loss about a certain traumatic event and her therapist, Pete (Enrique Murciano) is trying to dislodge it. Pete works with the FBI and has gotten Emma released from jail and into witness protection. - relocated to swampy Saint James, Louisiana. One of the serial killer's victims' mother, Mary (Amy Brenneman) is convinced her daughter is alive (there was never a body found, just a photo of her and the serial killer at a gas station). Mary believes Emma knows the truth about her daughter and hires a serial rapist, John (Hamish Linklater) to find Emma. To complicate things there is a romance with a cop thrown in, a psychic, mysterious things happening at a group home, a dodgy motel, and a cat. I think it's the serial rapist, John who is the most compelling to watch - Hamish Linklater was so fabulous I wish I could give him some sort of award. Maybe I will make one up - McPherson's Movie Marquee for best actor in a TV series - Hamish Linklater. The whole show feels B. Like all the actors are B list actors, but don't let it fool you, the performances are A list quality. It's just the material at times is ridiculous. Not a lot of it makes sense, but that's okay! Tell Me Your Secrets I predict will become a cult series in the way Pumpkinhead or The Holy Mountain are cult movies. If you want to have some fun, like riding the Haunted House ride, the guy with tat sleeves who smells of weed double checking your safety bar and giving you a wink - then take a ride on Tell Me Your Secrets. Binge it on Amazon.  

Behind Her Eyes

If you were a fan of Channel Zero and are still lamenting its loss, well there have been a few things to fill its void. The Outsider - was one. Behind Her Eyes is the next. Now, before we go on, if you don't know what Channel Zero is/was, then take a minute and read my review of that. I loved Channel Zero. I loved The Outsider. Behind Her Eyes might seem ridiculous to some (fair enough) but if taken in the context this is just another season of Channel Zero without that moniker attached to it, then you may love it too. What's it all about? It about Louise (Simona Brown) who is about to start a new job. It turns out that her new boss is the man she met and kissed at the bar the night before - awkward! He is a psychiatrist and his wife, well she's nuts. They have a dysfunctional marriage and Louise, she gets right in the middle of things becoming a good friend to the wife while sleeping with the husband, her boss. On top of all this juicy drama, Louise is having nightmarish sleepwalking episodes. There is a dream sequence where Louise is slow-motion running in a yellow dress and it's a stunning visual - you could freeze frame it and hang it on a gallery wall. I was so impressed I realized, this may be low brow material but it's been elevated to high art. Yes it's ridiculous, but so are most things - get over yourself. If you want some fun, get right Behind Her Eyes. Catch it on Netflix. 

The White Tiger

 Full upfront confession, I didn't read the book. I believe there were at least two copies kicking around my house. Shame on me. However, I did watch the movie. And I loved it. What's it all about? It's about class relations in India. It's about a Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) who wants to escape the poverty of his small town life and does so by becoming the driver for a rich family. One night, when the lady of the house insists on driving home, when she is drunk, she manages to kill a kid. There are no witnesses and Balram insists they leave the scene. They do. Later, the husband gets Balram to sign a legal document to say he was the one behind the wheel, just in case this comes back on his employers, just in case they get caught. It's a dark film. The film's canvas is big and it explores the Indian caste system juxtaposed against the moral American superiority spewed by Pinky (Priyanka Chopra) - the wife. Textured in is the American dream - rising up from nothing with hard work and determination - Vs the moral bankruptcy of those in power when the shit gets real - kill a kid, get the poor schmuck to take the blame. Lots going on. Adarsh Gouray should be nominated for an Oscar in my opinion. All that and it's a beautifully shot movie. Catch it on Netflix.  

The Mauritanian

Like The Report, this film is about all the horrible shit America did at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It's based on the true story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi. Mohamedou was taken from his home in Mauritania and ended up serving 14 years in Guantanamo - held without charges. He was tortured by the Americans until he confessed to terrorist actions he never did. So we know the story, this film makes it personal, makes you feel it more than The Report. Tahar Rahim plays Mohamedou and he really is the film, and the film is excellent. Jodie Foster plays his pro bono lawyer who stands by him, even when she may have had doubts to his innocence. I like Foster a lot and this is a great role for her - tough as nails and she plays like the pro she is. It one of the best films I've seen come out of 2020 and it's an important film. Catch it on streaming services. 

Ginny and Georgia

This new Netflix teen drama, which feels like part Desperate Housewives and part Dawson's Creek is the most important thing happening on TV. Taylor Swift apparently got pretty mad over a sexist joke made on this new series at her expense. Fair enough Taylor. However, the show is more important to let this one bad joke ruin what I think might be the most important show since Star Trek first came out. Now that's a BIG statement. But please hear me out. When I went to high school (mid to late 80s), it was a pretty white place to be. It was also the time when the Vietnamese boat people were coming in. These immigrant kids often and naturally hung out together/had their lockers together in a hallway we (the white prevailed kids) dubbed The Great Wall of China. I had one Chinese friend and his parents barely spoke English. I had one black friend who was adopted by Chinese parents. Many of the white kids I knew, their grandparents had immigrated to Canada as did mine (from Denmark) from usually white European countries. When John Hughes released "The Breakfast Club" it was a revelation for me. It felt like the first movie I had seen where the teenagers spoke and acted like real teenagers. I was represented on the screen. Think about that, a white kid thinking he is finally being represented with accuracy in a movie. Can you imagine all the Asian kids, all the black kids, who haven't seen themselves? I think it's vastly important to have depictions of yourself being reflected in the art around you. It means you are important, your life is valued. This is why Martin Luther King told actress Nichelle Nichols not to quit Star Trek, that the character of Lieutenant Uhura, a black woman working right alongside her white colleagues was so so important. Little black girls could see themselves on TV in a way like they had never before. And this is why I'm telling you Ginny and Georgia is doing the same thing and why that's so important. The dialogue feels as honest as anything John Hughes could have written and it's got so much going on in terms of representation - Ginny's best friend is an out of the closet lesbian looking for love, Georgia's co-worker is gay and seems to like to cross dressing on his nights off and he has gotten involved with a gay Asian private investigator who is looking into Georgia's past. The dad across the street is deaf (who is the dad of the lesbian best friend) so there is lots of signing going on. Ginny herself is half black/half white and she dates a half white/half Asian (Damian Romeo - who is Canadian by the way!). So representation is off the chart. And the show is just jammed with plot and mystery - I won't even bother to try. Go watch the best thing happening for teens, for representation of so many diverse groups of people on TV right now. Catch this on Netflix.