Inventing Anna, Kimi and Wolf Like Me

   My Top Three This Week

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers.. I'm spending a lot of times these days watching Oscar nominated films. I highly recommend Nightmare Alley, Power of the Dog and Spencer. This could be Kristen Stewart's year and lets not forget about Encanto and the great soundtrack. If you want to watch something really fun watch Marry Me Lots of new content and some series endings (Claws) but here are some of my favorites right now.

1) Inventing Anna streaming on Netflix  is based on a true story about Anna Delvey who conned socialites and artists alike around 2013-2017 pretending to be a wealthy German heiress.  Another Shonda Rimes hit! Played to perfection by Julia Garner (Ozark) . The cat and mouse game of what is real and what isn't is well played by Anna now in a jail cell and reporter Vivian Kent ( Anna Chlumsky) who wants to uncover the real story. Is it a love story between Anna and Chase (Saamer Usmani) who is charming all the rich benefactors or is it a big con? Watch the series and find out!

2) Kimi a movie streaming on HBO Max directed by Steven Soderbergh is one of the best tech thrillers around. Starring Zoë Kravitz  as Angela Childs who lives in Seattle working in tech for an A.I. called Kimi an Alexa like platform helping the tool  learn by deciphering questions from users. She uncovers what she believes is a crime during a sound bite and reports  the incident only to find herself under attack. An Agoraphobic not leaving her apartment, she finds herself on the run. Great casting and fantastic co-stars like Rita Wilson, and Jaime Camil. This is one of my favorite thrillers in some time.

3) Wolf Like Me a Peacock Original series now streaming is great genre twist starring Josh Gad and Isla Fisher as an unlikely love story with a twist. This charming story introduces us to Gary (Gad) a lonely widower with a clever daughter Emma (amazing Ariel Donoghue) who gets into a wreck with  Mary (Fisher) who is an emotional wreck herself. Gary and Mary keep being put together through the series and they begin dating. Things don't go so well once Gary finds Mary's dark secret but the humor and heart keep us rooting for this little family. I enjoyed this quirky comedy.

Somebody Somewhere, The Gilded Age and Single Drunk Female

  My Top Three This Week

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. It has been awhile since i put new content and I have some great things to share. I have finished the latest installment of Ozark- (this is Ruth's year for awards) the new season of Euphoria and starting some new series that have promise-Pivoting that I recommend.

1) Somebody Somewhere -streaming on HBO Max is a poignant , compelling story of finding your tribe later in life. Bridgett Everett  brilliant is Sam who lived a life never fitting in and comes back to her Kansas hometown to grieve the death of her favorite sister. Battling her living sister Tricia and trying to make peace with a father dealing with the alcoholism of his wife and loss of his daughter is leading to increasing depression. A dead end job grading papers leads to connecting with an old classmate Joel (the amazingly talented Jeff Hiller) who introduces her to "Choir Practice". She meets a band of outsiders who have come together to drink, sing and support each other. The friendship between Sam and Joel is the heart of the story with a perfectly cast of supporting characters and I cannot wait to see where this goes.

2) The Gilded Age is yet another HBO Max hit. Brought to you by Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) , this series takes place in Old New York during the 1880s as a newly rich railroad tycoon and his wife try to enter into old society money. Rich cinematography , wardrobes and great acting make this the perfect binge watch. Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, Louisa Jacobson(another Streep daughter), Taissa Farmiga, Christine Baranski, Debra Monk and Audra McDonald round out this great cast of women.

3) Single Drunk Female streaming on Hulu is a Dramedy with a young Sam Fink struggling to stay sober after losing her job and moving back home with her mother ( a fantastic Ally Sheedy). She has more people rooting for her than she deserves as she takes her few loyal loved ones down with her. With the love and support of her best friend Felicia (Lily Mae Harington) , a hilarious Parole Officer Gail and a great sponsor Olivia (Rebecca Henderson) she navigates what it takes to stay sober.

A Clüsterfünke Christmas, A Boy Called Christmas, A Castle for Christmas and 8_Bit Christmas

   My Top Three This Week: CHRISTMAS EDITION

Season's Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. Another year is closing and we are slowly moving to more holiday gatherings with friends and family. Snuggling up with a favorite series or  holiday movie never changes. We have annual favorites like " A Diva's Christmas Carol" and  "A Charlie Brown Christmas" but new ones pop up every year.

1)  A Clüsterfünke Christmas streaming on Comedy Central is the perfect send up of Hallmark Shmaltz holiday movies. Featuring Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer (who wrote this comedy) and Cheyenne Jackson and Vella Lovel (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) as Holly. The story centers around Holly  who comes to the Clüsterfünke Inn to purchase it as a resort for her boss. She falls in love and discovers the meaning of Christmas (of course). A hilarious Christmas romp with some great comedians make for a very funny film.

2) A Boy Called Christmas, a Netflix Original from the folks who brought us The Christmas Chronicles is beautifully filmed fantasy with elves, a talking mouse and Christmas magic. And a quest by a small human boy to find "Hope" for his king in the only place he knows to go- Elfhelm. A great cast including Kristen Wiig and Michael Huisman (La Brea) Jim Broadbent ,Henry Lawfull as Nikolas (pefectly cast) and the legend Maggie Smith as the narrater/storyteller Aunt Ruth. This will be another Christmas classic with a perfect ending. A must watch!

3) A Castle for Christmas-a Netflix Original is what I call "Christmas Porn" which means every available space in every scene is completely decorated for folks like me who watch as much for the story as for the snow, wreaths and magnificently decorated trees. This one is a fully decorated castle. A charming story of a disgraced author Sophie (Brooke Sheilds) who flies to a small town in Scotland to get away from her angry fans (Spoiler Alert: she killed off a major beloved character). She finds a charming inn and a charming  rundown castle Dun Dunbar Castle inhabited by a crotchety young Duke Myles ( Cary Elwes). She falls in love with the castle and the Duke eventually , but there is a snag. She buys the castle from him and there in starts  the war between them. Shields and Elwes have plenty of chemistry and the townsfolk have plenty Scottish wisdom and friendship to win her over.

Bonus :  8-Bit Christmas  streaming on HBO Max is a modern (80's) version of A Christmas Story. The plot revolves around a young Jake Doyle trying his hardest to get a Nintendo gaming system for Christmas. Selling wreaths door to door to win the system until he realizes he is competing with every boy in school. He makes a pact with his little sister in exchange for his pushing for a Cabbage Patch doll for her. There are plenty of 80's callouts and characters galore. Winslow Fegley is great as young Jake and Bellaluna Resnick as Lizzy his wise-cracking sister. June Diane Raphael and Steve Zahn round out the cast as his parents and Neil Patrick Harris is the adult Jake. Good fun!

Yellowjackets, The Big Leap and Finch

 My Top Three This Week

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers.The holidays are upon us as we move from Pumpkin Spice to Cranberry Bliss. Hallmark is already churning out Christmas and has been for awhile. But some of us are not quite ready for this. So many new seasons of favorite shows are back like You and In the Dark and Dexter. A few new ones are making their way to the small screen.

1) Yellowjackets now streaming on Showtime is already creating buzz. This disquieting thriller has got a great cast. Melanie Lynskey, Christina Ricci, Juliette Lewis and Sophie Thatcher just to name a few of the amazing talents involved in this series. The story revolves around a girl's soccer team whose plane crashes in the Ontario wilderness on their way to a big game, leaving a handful of survivors. Through a series of flashbacks in the pilot episode, we see some of the survivors dealing with current day issues as adults and their trauma as young girls in the aftermath of the crash. We discover that this group of women made a pact to never discuss what happened in the wilderness and how they survived. Something very bad happened and someone is reaching out to find out the real story. This Lord of the Flies mash-up with Alive is sure to disturb your sensibilities.

2) The Big Leap a Fox original series streaming on Hulu is not to be missed. A faux behind the scenes look at a dancing competition called The Big Leap that is  on a fake Fox line-up. A group of random people (maybe not random) are invited to audition for a dance competition where a group of differently talented people will train to put on Swan Lake in the finale. Back stories and character tie-ins as well as cast rivalries and romances make this a great watch. The dancing and acting is amazing , from the dancers to the producers you will fall in deep with the story lines. The handsome  never aging Scott Foley is so great as the disarming Nick Blackburn and Simone Recasner is a breath of fresh air as Gabby. Anna Grace Barlow and Adam Kaplan is spoiled twin dancers are hilarious and heartbreaking and then we meet their stage mother played by Missi Pyle- things could not get better!!! I could go on about the talent in this series but watch for yourself!!

3) Finch starring Tom Hanks on Apple+TV is probably the best thing I have seen him in for many years.Tom is brilliant playing Finch- a robotics engineer who has survived a solar flare and is holed up with his dog Goodyear and his robotic assistant Dewey. He has thrived with this companionship for some time, staying underground and out of the 150 degree UV rays. Finch is dying and is trying to build a robot to take of his beloved pet Goodyear. The self -named Jeff is a very quick learning robot that seems more human every time he speaks.The only issue -Jeff isn't bonding with the dog and time is running out before a massive storm hits St. Louis. Finch, Jeff, Goodyear and Dewey head to San Francisco in a tricked out motorhome to see some of the world and find a more peaceful place to settle. This road trip sets the pace that leads us to the inevitable end. You will laugh and cry and fall a little bit in love with Jeff.