Anna and the Apocalypse,Mary Poppins Returns and a Very Nutty Christmas

My Top Christmas  Obsessions This Week

Greetings to all my semi constant readers. Christmas is upon us and I have been so busy I have been neglectful of you. While TV programming has been filled with a Christmas binge watchers paradise, the quality is slowly draining from the genre. Lazy writing and cliche characters abound ,so it would be nice next year to lose some of the formulaic writing out there. Do we need more Christmas princesses or bakers or movies that come off the assembly line. That is my Christmas wish for you. How ever I have seen a few things that i liked  at theaters and television that rose to the holiday occasion.

1) Anna and the Apocalypse-at theaters now and streaming soon could be a holiday classic if you like musicals, zombies and Christmas. This little gem has the audacity to bring in zombies during a Christmas high school play in the small town of New Haven. Some catchy tunes and a real living breathing bad guy have Anna and her chums singing and fighting for their lives.Ella Hunt as Anna is fantastic and up the challenges to save the world.

2)  Mary Poppins Returns blew me away. How a movie with a whole new cast succeeded in creating a new nostalgia for something we have never seen is mind boggling. Emily  Blunt has recreated Mary Poppins for a new era. Sharp tongued and witty and fresh while showing us the love and kindness in her eyes. What ever time period this it felt like a companion piece to the 64 film. I can actually say I prefer Lin-Manuel Miranda's Cockney accent was better than Dick Van Dyke's. I loved the songs and the magic and the way the director Rob Marshall pulled back the silliness and original Banks kids Michael (Ben Whishaw) and Jane ( Emily Mortimer) were great . Blunt is the heart of the show and every scene she is in steals the show. The bonus points are musical numbers by Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke and the great number from Meryl Streep as cousin Topsy. This is a true Christmas classic for me.

3) A Very Nutty Christmas on Lifetime is a Christmas movie that is in on the joke. It is magical and there is a baker of course ( this time i didn't mind) It is about a stressed baker (MELISSA JOAN HART - who I love) who's  boyfriend breaks up with her right before Christmas and the height of her busy baking season. The gift of a nutcracker who turns into a real man brings the magic and love of the Holiday Season. Supporting cast Marissa Jaret Winokur, Rizwan Manji, Conchata Ferrell and Barry Watson as the Nutcracker. This is soo much better than the rest of the dreck out there. I enjoyed it immensely.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!!

Homecoming, The Kominsky Method , Three Identical Strangers, Dirty John and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

My Top 5 Obsessions This Week

Greetings to all my semi constant readers. I have been so busy this last month , but I haven't forgotten you. Before the Christmas holidays hit us , i have a few November leftovers that are still worth savoring. 

1) Homecoming. Streaming on Amazon Prime is one of the best offerings they have had and a whole new way to appreciate our America's Sweetheart Julia Roberts. This is a top notch twisty thriller like we haven't seen in years. Heidi ( Roberts works at Homecoming a facility that rehabilitates soldiers coming back from war so that they may transition into society. But is it really? The episodes time flip and Heidi  is a waitress at a diner a few years later with little memory of the job she previously had and the Department of Defense investigating the facility is having a tough time getting to the truth of what really went on. Roberts is amazing as well as a creepy performance from Bobby Cannavale as her driven former employer. Stephan James, Sissy Spacek and Shea Whigham give solid performances that help build the tension in this must see.

2) The Kominsky Method streaming on Netflix is the smarter, funnier version of Grumpy Old Men with Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin as best friends who have weathered the loss of love and rebellion of their aging bodies as they are searching for answers to the questions of love and aging. Douglas is a former actor Sandy Kominsky who now teaches acting in his studio to young hopefuls and Arkin as his agent deals with the love of his life (Susan Sullivan) -his wife to cancer and an alcoholic daughter. Witty and touching , and while Douglas gives a strong performance , Arkin is the heart of the show . Great cast including Nancy Travis and Sarah Baker that keep the guys grounded . And Ann Margaret- who is looking fantastic and aging gracefully !!!!

3) Three Identical Strangers soon to be available on DVD or Streaming is one of the best documentaries I have seen in the last few years. 1980's New York a young man attends college to find everyone is welcoming him back to the new semester even though he has never been. He finds he has an identical twin he had never met and the newspapers go insane with the story. But wait .. there's more a third young man reads the article and discovers he is the missing triplet. A fantastic tale I would never have believed to be true. A heartwarming story of three brothers who discover at 19 they have siblings. The talk shows, magazine covers and a cameo on "Desperately Seeking Susan" with Madonna made them the toast of the town. But a much darker side was soon revealed when it was discovered a famous "doctor" was involved in the boys adoption through a renown Jewish adoption agency. He studied the boys secretly throughout their boyhood under false pretenses and it is revealed the boys were part of some bizarre scientific study their entire lives . Horrifying and disturbing , this story unfolds  one shocking discovery after another.

4)  Dirty John  a limited series on Bravo , based on a true story  and on  a critically acclaimed Los Angeles podcast. Starring Connie Britton as Debra Newell  a successful interior designer who  is swept away on an online date by "Dirty John" Meehan  ( Eric Bana)a handsome doctor who's charm and good looks swept past her many defenses. Her daughters take an immediate dislike to him and warned their mother who ignored all signs and married him quickly in Vegas and then the trouble begins. Britton is always amazing and Bana has never been more hot or more dangerous. Great performances by Jean Smart, Juno Temple and Julia Garner (Ozark ) This is the perfect antidote to all the holiday programming.

5)  Chilling Adventures of Sabrina the most recent offering from the producers of Riverdale now streaming on Netflix quietly came in October and proved to be an even darker , wittier version than i even expected. Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) starts the season as a half- mortal/half- witch who is looking forward to her 16th birthday where she will embrace her witchy self  in a dark baptism. But she has doubts... lots of doubts especially when dealing with all things Dark Lord and the new school -The Academy of Unseen Arts with Father Blackwood where she is scheduled to attend,  leaving her mortal boyfriend and best friends behind. With the help of her two witch aunties Hilda and Zelda and cousin Ambrose she battles the duality of her nature and the evil that seems to stalk her . The great cast including Shipka and Lucy Davis, Chance Perdomo, Michelle Gomez, Miranda Otto, Richard Coyle and a welcome blast from the past Bronson Pinchot as Principal Hawthorne. Darkly comic and devilishly clever this series has it all and may prove to be more popular than Riverdale.

Channel Zero: The Dream Door, The Haunting of Hill House ,Malevolent, Light as a Feather and Veronica

My Top 5 Obsessions This Week

Greetings to all my semi constant readers. This October is shaping up nicely with all kinds of things that go bump and some great offerings across streaming platforms and at the movies.

1)  Channel Zero The  Dream Door now available streaming its first season  4 opener on the Syfy app only until October 26th when the series is available. It has all the hallmarks of the Channel Zero franchise. A happy young couple ( Maria Sten and Brandon Scott ) moves into the family home and discovers a door in the basement that beckons and repels at the same time. Mysterious happenings start occurring and a scary protector from a young Jillian's childhood has materialized like an evil Drop Dead Fred.  

2) The Haunting of Hill House is the series I cant say enough good things about. Now streaming on Netflix this horror series is able to build the suspense, terror and overall creepy each episode. Reimagined from the famous Shirley Jackson novel by the same name , this focuses on a family who moves in to the monstrosity that is Hill House with the plan to restore and sell at a huge profit. Dad( Henry Thomas) and Mom ( Carla Gugino) and the five children Luke and Nell -the twins and Steve, Theo and Shirley  round out the amazing cast. Superbly directed by Mike Flanagan the story is told in "then and now" as we see the young family discover that they are living with something evil and just maybe more than one kind. We are shown in flashbacks how the horror they encountered has followed through to their adult lives. The whole cast is amazing with special nods to the extremely talented Carla Gugino and McKenna Grace who plays Theodora "Theo" the girl with the gift of visions as well as the older Steve played by Michael Huisman (Game of Thrones) who wrote the fictional tale that we are seeing. Very Meta!This is an extremely high recommendation

3) Malevolent streaming on Netflix is a good fast paced horror/thriller with two kinds of evil- Supernatural and Unnatural and both will scare the pants off you. A brother and sister team Jackson (Ben Lloyd Hughes) and Angela (Florence Pugh) make their way through Scotland scamming unsuspecting folks with their charm and Ghostbuster gadgets to get rid of annoying or evil spirits. the only thing is... the sister actually has the gift to see the spirits and that is when it starts to get interesting. Replying to a request to get rid of the spirits of a group of young girls that were brutally murdered , they end up at a very spooky old foster home run by a very creepy lady ( the supremely talented Celia Imrie) where the horror begins and their con act falls apart and so do they.

4) Light as a Feather is  a Hulu original series is really holding my interest . Similar to The Craft ( One of my personal favorites) a group of high school girls befriend a new girl in school and invite her into their lives. All of it started with a simple game of "light as a feather stiff as a board" in a cemetery ( doesn't it always?) and one by one each of the girls is faced with a supernatural predator trying to pick them up. All five of the young actresses already have a pretty impressive resume and this could lead to much more if it has the same life expectancy of Riverdale or Pretty Little Liars.

5) Veronica a film streaming on Netflix is set in Madrid in 1991 . A teenage Veronica ( Sandra Escacena- amazing) convinces her best friends to use a Ouija board to contact her deceased father during a solar eclipse in the Catholic school they attend. We all know what happens when you don't say adios on the Ouija board. Whatever you summon stays with you. This has everything- blind nuns, demonic possession and creatures that can be seen in mirrors and out of the corner of your eye. As Veronica realizes she has summoned something evil and tries to protect her three younger siblings, the mounting horror begins. Lots of jump scares and overall goosebump chill factors. Perfect to start Halloween.

American Horror Story Apocalypse, Mr. Mercedes and You, Ozark and Manifest

My Top 5 Obsessions This Week

Greetings to all my semi constant readers. There is a crispness in the air , a hint of cooler weather to come and and the thrillers, horror and suspense has already been gearing up for a promising Halloween season streaming and at the movies. I am ready are you?

1)  American Horror Story  Apocalypse on AMC has started off with a bang...literally!! Missiles have been launched and hit  all across the world ,living up to the name of the dynamic new season. Already we see some of our favs like Kathy Bates , Lesley Grossman and the ever amazing Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson, ( the only two actors who have appeared in every season) battling for survival in this horrific new world. The ultimate survivalist Joan Collins -regal as ever in an Elizabeth Taylor ensemble has made it to safety in and underground bunker with the rest while the dust and radiation settles. There is something out there unseen and the plot of this new installment has been shrouded in secrecy and i have such high hopes for Emmy and Golden Globe winning auteur Ryan Murphy to make this one of his best seasons ever.

2)  Mr. Mercedes, the second season out on the Audience Network based on the best selling trilogy from Stephen King is everything we want from the books. This series has all the elements I am missing from Castle Rock ( that I still want to see live up to its potential). An amazing story that is played out in the real world and the dark mind of Brady Hartsfield ( Harry Treadaway). The season picks up where last season left off with Brady and Bill Hodges ( Brendan Gleeson) in the hospital recovering from the near disaster that was diverted by Holly (Justine Lupe) who saved thousands of concert goers from Brady's plan to blow up the arena. Treadaway, Gleeson, Lupe and Holland Taylor  ( love her) all pull amazing performances in this supernatural/crime hybrid in no small part to the mind of David E. Kelley. The horror has taken on a whole new level as Brady has awakened from his coma with extraordinary abilities thanks to the new experimental drugs he was secretly given. This is a high recommend.

3) You on Lifetime and based on the best selling book of the same name by writer Carolyn Kepnes is the ultimate stalker story for the millennial generation. Playing off his good boy image from Gossip Girl Penn  Badgley is the perfect creep Joe Goldberg. Elizabeth Lail is great as Guinevere "Beck" the object of his desire. Through a chance meeting at the bookstore he manages , he starts his mission to have her and stealing her phone he follows her every post, text and instagram photo and with all that information manifests himself as the perfect "boyfriend".

4) Ozark- got even darker this season - if that was even possible. The Byrdes are in trouble and in even more peril as they dig deeper to find their way out of the deals they have made with the drug cartel, the Kansas City mob and the evil Snells. As always Justin Bateman and Laura Linney are fascinating to watch. But Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore steals every scene she is in with the hint of a smile or a lift of an eyebrow.

5) Manifest a promising new fall series on NBC could either be a Lost or a Touched by an Angel, right now it is too early to tell. I am intrigued with anything that features possible time travel and this one has a supernatural aspect to it. The passengers of flight 828 heading to New York from Jamaica experienced a bit of turbulence in the air and suddenly they are transported 5 years in the future without aging at all. Family , friends and loved ones have been dealing with the loss for 5 years but to our passengers it has only been hours. As some of the "souls" from this flight try to deal with their new situation they start experiencing voices in their heads that command them to listen and take direction. Either Sci-Fi or Religious, it remains to be seen. Starring Josh Dallas and Melissa Roxburgh as brother and sister and Jack Messina as his son Cal as well as some other familiar faces. The jury is still out for me but I am interested....

Casual, Younger, Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce, Atypical and Insatiable

My Top 5 Obsessions This Week

Greetings to all my semi constant readers. Summer is almost over and the days are seeming shorter and shorter and there are some worthwhile binges and new seasons that have caught my attention.

1)  Casual a Hulu original just wrapped up the series and i was unbelievably sad to say good bye to these characters. They were all fully developed and I rooted for each one of them to have the ending they deserved. Michaela Watkins, Tommy Dewey and Tara Lynne Barr were the epitome of the new family dynamic , each heartbreakingly looking for some sort of connection. Throughout a very dysfunctional childhood Valerie (Watkins) and Alex (Dewey) maintained a bond as brother and sister that you rarely see in movies or tv- people who really love each other! Sharing the raising of Valerie's daughter Laura (Barr) they create a comfy home life and form some lasting friendships played by great supporting cast. This was anything but Casual for me.

2) Younger is plugging right along with this new season 5 and Liza and Charle's relationship is on again and it is getting harder and harder to keep her secret a secret anymore. Sutton Foster is always the heart of the show but Diana ( the amazing Miriam Shor ) is getting a lot of story line this season and it is fun to see her tear it up. Enter the arch nemesis Cheryl Sussman (Martha Plimpton ) and things are about to heat up.

3) Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce is ending after a 4 year run and it has been a great run. Abby, Phoebe , Delia and Jo have had each others backs even through all the heartbreak , joy and loss. We haven't had a good gal friendship series in a while since SATC ended and it has been a ride. I expect to see Lisa Edelstein in something new soon. I am sure mega creator Marti Noxon will figure it out. In the mean time Binge Binge  Binge 

4) Atypical on Netflix is back for a second season and it is proving that it is still something to watch. Keir Gilchrist as  "on the spectrum Sam" is the center of the show and he is a scene stealer. We are catching up with the Gardner family after Elsa's cheating secret came out and she is estranged from her family. The whole cast is incredible with my personal favorites Brigette Lundy-Paine and Jenna Boyd as Sam's on-again-off-again romance Paige.

5) Insatiable streaming on Netflix is a telenovela trainwreck and I cannot stop watching it. A disillusioned attorney / beauty pageant coach takes on a pet project (formally overweight and bullied Patty Bladell who is out for revenge) and plans to make her his next crowned jewel. But he has no idea what genie he has let out of the bottle. Dallas Roberts as the coach Bob Armstrong and Debby Ryan as Patty make a dynamic devilish duo. And the cast and guest stars are a casting dream come true. Featuring Alyssa Milano as his long suffering wife and Christopher Gorham as his nemesis/love interest. Michael Ian Black, Arden Myrin, Beverly D'Angelo, Christine Taylor and Jon Lovitz.....now aren't you interested?

Searching, Castle Rock, Baby Teeth, Dark Tourist, and How it Ends

My Top 5 Obsessions This Week

Greetings to all my semi constant readers.  I have been waiting to bring some good horror and suspense and waiting and waiting, It is trickling in for the season of October and then I should have some more treats. But for now some new things including some excellent reading material.

1) Searching out at theaters in the coming week, is a whole new genre and movie watching experience. The story starts with a single father played by John Cho who finds his daughter Margot (Michelle La )missing and this begins the harrowing story of his search played out on social media sites and the audience sees every keystroke and entry on screen. With the help of a compassionate detective played with intensity by the talented Debra Messing, he begins to find out he doesn't know his daughter at all. This is one of the twistiest thrillers I have seen in a long time.

2) Castle Rock streaming now on Hulu is going for the long story as it is slowly building steam . Castle Rock is the land of the imagination of Stephen King and we are just paying rent. Storylines from The Shawshank Redemption, Cujo, Needful things and more to come as the seasons progress. A missing boy , a psychic and an unearthed prisoner found after 30 years hardly aged at all weave together a compelling story that builds the horror and creepiness. King alumni Sissy Spacek, Bill Skarsgard, Scott Glenn and Melanie Lynskey round out a cast of fine actors in this fine offering from J.J. Abrams and Stephen King.

3) Baby Teeth the debut novel from Zoje Stage is a page turner about a little girl and her mother fighting an epic battle of domination. Little mute Hanna is thrown out of every pre school  she is put infor violent episodes  and only speaks to her mother Suzette when her father is not around and in fluid french. Written from both views of mother and daughter it is a taut thriller that builds the suspense. Is Hanna a psychotic child or a witch like she claims  (but only in her mothers earshot). One of my favorite books of late and I already see a screenplay on the horizon

4) Dark Tourist the Netflix documentary series from filmmaker David Farrier takes us through the dark side of tourism. Tour guides to murder sites in Los Angeles ( Charles Manson anyone?) Atomic Lakes and other places historically linked with death and tragedy. It is not for the feint hearted or the picky traveller. An interesting binge for the upcoming October.

5) How It Ends also streaming on Netflix is an apocalyptic thriller starring Theo James and Forest Whitaker as desperate father and fiancee looking for his his pregnant daughter (Kat Graham). Something big has happened and power is out everywhere and the weather is becoming unpredictable and suddenly civilization has turned people into savages. As they try to make their way by car from Chicago to Seattle they bond over the horrors of what just a few days without the trappings of our modern life do to the population. The big question is what happened and was it climate or something else. The title says it all and no spoilers. Grace Dove is a standout in the film and an actress to be on the look out for in the future, I really liked this little film.