Love Life, Homecoming and How to Build a Girl

My Top Three This Week 

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. We have now entered the new normal of sheltering in place. Zoom meetings, un-highlighted hair and unmitigated bread baking. But I am catching up with  some classic movies, art projects and reading. I have just finished reading If it Bleeds the new Stephen King offering and if you loved The Outsider you will want to read this book of novellas.All that aside this is what I am watching this week.


1) Love Life  an HBO Max original series with 3 episodes dropped a few days ago. This has all the earmarks of a binge worthy watch.  Filmed in New York like so many classics this follows the love life of Darby Carter ( Anna Kendrick) from first love to everlasting love. The premise of this is novel as Darby and her  long time friends Sara and Mallory embark on love in the big apple with all the pitfalls and broken hearts. The focus is mostly on Darby as she has her first kiss as a teen ager and each episode  marks a new period of her life with a new love interest as she learns the painful lessons of love and self confidence. Paul Feig and Kendrick are executive producers so you know it is going to be good. This has the heart of some of our favorites like Sex and the City and Younger. This is the perfect showcase for Kendrick's most endearing qualities . There are some fine performances from Zoë Chao, Sasha Compére , Stephan James and Hope Davis as Darby's distant mother. Watch this!

2) Homecoming the 2nd season on Prime is missing Julia Roberts but we have a highly taut thriller with a great performance from Janelle Monáe  as Alex who wakes up in a rowboat  with no memory of who she is or what happened. The episodes roll backwards like last season to reveal how she got there and who she is. This might even be more compelling than last season with some strong acting from Chris Cooper and Hong Chau as Audrey Temple. Those two have some of the best scenes together and Joan Cusack as wacky Bunda. This whole  premise is so far out there it feels that it could be happening somewhere in the world right now.

3) How to Build a Girl now available for rental is the perfect vehicle for Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart) as Johanna Morrigan a high Schooler living in a blue collar neighborhood in England who reinvents herself as Dolly Wilde, a snarky music journalist who works for a music review journal to make money to help her family survive. Her vivid imagination and talent takes a long way but her lack of maturity as she tries to be a femme fatale make this a sweet coming of age movie . Special shout out to Laurie Kynaston as her brother Krissi and to Alfie Allen (Game of Thrones) her closest ally John Kite.

Bonus: Space Force now on Netflix is the newest series from Greg Daniels who brought us The Office and Parks and Rec and Upload. this premise could not be more timely . The series opens with General Mark Naird (Steve Carell) who is tasked with opening a 6th branch of the military Space Force. This has potential to be up there with all of Daniel's hits and with a cast of some high wattage stars it shines brightly. General Naird moves with his family to a military base to get "Boots on the Moon" .  The humor is a little dry but I am watching anything with this cast of Lisa Kudrow, Carell, John Malkovich, Fred Willard, Don Lake, Diedrich Bader (who I love), Jane Lynch and a host of stars.

Hollywood, Upload, the Baker and the Beauty and Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist

My Top Three This Week 

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. The saga continues as we all do our part to keep the sanity in this insane world. With that in mind watch Jerry Seinfeld special 23 Hours to Kill - you can thank me later. So many new series are dropping in May and new seasons are starting ( cant wait to dig into Dead to Me) that I feel that along with that is the hope that we can all go to concerts, movies, plays one day and until then I am here for you.

1) Hollywood streaming on Netflix is the perfect What/If fairytale we didn't even know needed. Set in the era of glamorous post war Hollywood , Ryan Murphy introduces us to the notion of what would  have happened if Rock Hudson got to live his truth , a woman ran a studio and a woman of color opened a big film. Murphy has long favored people on the fringe and that is what gives this mini-series its heart. Floating fictional characters along with the very real stories of the famed gas station that served more than gas , the legendary  story of Peg Entwistle who committed suicide by jumping off the Hollywood sign. The all star cast has some Murphy regulars and few new faces - all outstanding performances. The standouts are Dylan McDermott at his best as Ernie West proprietor of said gas station and David Corenswet as Jack Costello . Joe Mantello, Jeremy Pope , Jake Picking, Jim Parsons and national treasure Holland Taylor give thoughtful performances full of longing. But Patti Lupone steals every scene. Just Watch this!!

2 Upload from creative genius Greg Daniels now on  Amazon Prime is a smart, sci -fi dark comedy mystery that will hook you from the very beginning. The premise of the story is that for those who can afford it when they  are nearing end of life they can be uploaded into Lakeview a virtual landscape where their every wish is catered to as they live their best life in a 3-D printed body. Nathan is on the brink between life and death after a self driving car accident and his girlfriend uploads him into Lakeview where she will join him whenever her life is over  thus binding him for afterlife where every convenience is charged to her account. The mystery of his crash,  his business deal that was on the verge of happening and a very absent business partner plus  some memory gaps has a very hilarious sleuth trying to find out what happened. Some great acting from Robbie Amell, Andy Allo and Allegra Edwards.

3) There are several choices I recommend if you are looking for something heart warming, sweet or has great musical dance numbers I have some guilty pleasures for you. I bundled them together so you can just enjoy with no spoilers, no plots just all the feels, The Baker and the Beauty an American version of the Israeli hit with lots of eye candy. Never Have I Ever a sweet sweet story from creator Mindy Kaling and one of my favorite hybrids - Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist the tale of a young woman who sees people's heart songs with full dance numbers and a variety of music styles. This cast is a dream cast. The amazing Jane Levy, Alex Newell( a showcase performance), Peter Gallagher , Mary Steenburgen and Lauren Graham. Skyler Astin and John Clarence Stewart provide some of the best dance/music sequence with the exception of Newell who can do anything as far as I am concerned.