March 1st…is it a lion or a lamb in your area? It’s been both in the same day the last 2 days. In one day we went from a high of 15C down to -8 in 2 hours. I woke up the 29th to a blizzard only to be gone in 40 minutes…crazy! January was not very diverse since we watched all of Downton Abbey including the movies. So let’s get to it and I will try…try to be brief…
MOVIES
1. DOWNTON ABBEY-2010-1015 plus 2019 & 2022
Brilliant show! Love Maggie Smith who has never watched the show.
2. 23 PACES TO BAKER ST-1956
A blind man is obsessed in finding out what really happened. Not bad and reminds me of the TV show “Longstreet” starring James Franciscus.
3. GEOSTORM-2017
Gerard Butler in a disaster movie where he ends up in space. Frivolous flick but mindless fun
4. BARBIE-2023
Great middle film of the Spaghetti Western trilogy that stars Clint Eastwood. The music, by Ennio Morricone, is beyond brilliant and haunting.
6. MR. HOLMES-2015
Ian McLellen plays an old Sherlock Holmes who retires to the country with his bees and meets his housekeeper and her son. Well acted.
7. OPPENHEIMER-2023
Brilliant film about the man who designed the bomb. Deserves the accolades
8. NEWS OF THE WORLD-2020
Tom Hanks brings the news to the people in towns across the U.S. and comes across a German girl who was being brought back to her kinfolk after living with the Natives who killed her parents. It has good action scenes but is a character study as well and one of hope and family.
9. BRIDGE OF SPIES-2015
Tom Hanks plays a lawyer who must negotiate the release of captured pilot, Gary Powers, from the Soviets during the days of the Cold War when the Berlin Wall was going up. Excellent true story with Mark Rylance winning an Oscar as a Soviet spy caught in the U.S.
10. SUITE FRANCAISE- 2014
Romance between a French woman and a German officer during the early days of WW2. This is an excellent film that brings up more than just a romance…it is so much more.
11. VICTORIA & ABDUL-2017
Judi Dench as Queen Victoria, again, this time being enthralled by a visiting Indian and wishes to learn more about his culture, language and him much to the chagrin of her bratty kids.
TV SHOWS
1. FROM WHERE THEY STOOD-2021
Very sad but brilliant documentary about holocaust survivors who took pictures while in the camps and how the people, today, try to find where these photos were taken.
2. UPROOTED: THE JOURNEY OF JAZZ DANCE-2020
A very interesting journey about how jazz dance came to be from the streets to movie musicals and beyond. Love it!
3. GHOSTS, THE BRITISH VERSION-2019-2023
The original British sitcom about a woman who inherits a crumbling mansion and she and her husband decide to turn it into a B & B. I’m not done but, I have to admit, I like the American version better. It’s still fun but I have a hard time understanding what her husband says.
I watch more TV but I already mentioned the shows in the past. I hope to see more Oscar noms so we shall see. What have you seen?
Only seen one of those, and yes, Oppenheimer is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteClint Eastwood's spaghetti westerns are all great! Not just the movies, but the soundtracks as well. Haven't seen any of your other picks. As a fan of the American "Ghosts", it would be interesting to see the original UK version. I believe it's available on CBC Gem?
ReplyDeleteWe're Clint Eastwood fans. I loved his westerns and Dirty Harry films! His strong, silent characters on the big screen were just what every woman wanted to see in a man then and honestly I believe so today. Hollywood doesn't make many of those kind of movies anymore which is a tragedy. "Geostorm" is on Hulu, so I added it to our watch list. That looks like right up our alley. There are a few others I'd be interested in seeing in your line up. I'll see if I can find them. :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYes, Downton Abbey was great. It's why I started watching The Gilded Age--same show creator. I started on Ghosts UK, too. It's funny how some of the same plots are in both the US and UK versions. (I use the captioning for many shows. It helps decipher accents.)
ReplyDeleteCould not finish Barbie. Really? I actualy visited the Bridge where the exchange took place. Have yet to watch Oppenheimer. Have already watched two documentaries about him. Maybe tomorrow?
ReplyDeleteI'm probably the only person in the world that doesn't keep up with Downton Abbey. Sandra sandracox.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI agree, Birgit. Barbie doesn't deserve the over-the-top attention, but Ryan Gosling - what a peach, right? Kate McKinnon's okay too. Ryan, though. Smiles.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you loved Oppenheimer! Such a great film.
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