THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE – Jessica Chastain won a SAG award for her portrayal of Tammy Faye Bakker in this HBO film and I think it highly likely she will win an Oscar. She was phenomenal. I remember the rise and fall of the Bakkers along with their PTL Club “ministry.” I use the word lightly. It was a tele-evangelist organization plagued with scandal, greed and fraud which culminated in Jim Bakker going to prison and Tammy Faye struck from her perch in humiliation. So I was really not interested in viewing this movie. I’m glad I did for Jessica’s performance alone. And if the details in this film are accurate (and I have no idea if they are), it certainly paints Tammy Faye in a sympathetic (even likable) light – something I never felt for the real woman. Cheers! Boyfriends – 0; Girlfriends – 0.

AGAINST THE ICE – In 1909, two Danish polar explorers, originally on a mission with a full crew, set out alone in the Arctic to recover journals from a previous expedition. They return against all odds to find themselves abandoned by their mates who left them a makeshift hut and one year of supplies – just in case. Ejnar Mikkelsen and Iver Iversen would spend three years in a brutal battle for survival. This film is based on Mikkelsen’s autobiography, Two Against the Ice, documenting their struggle to stay alive when all hope is lost and each passing day requires another triumph over the elements, polar bears and madness. Game of Thrones fans will recognize Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister) in the lead role of Captain Mikkelsen and Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) in a lesser role. The film is a bit slow in places and there are scenes of animal harm which bothered me. (I usually don’t watch or read anything involving animals in distress) Overall it’s a decent film and an incredible story. Cheers! Boyfriends – 1; Girlfriends -0.

KARDEC – True story of Professor Léon Rivail who became Kardec in late 19th century France when he discovered spiritualism, prompting him to write The Spirits’ Book. I had never heard of this book, but apparently it is well known, especially in Brazil. Naturally the book created much conflict with both Emperor Napoléon and the Catholic Church, making life dangerous for Kardec and his followers. The movie is filmed in Portuguese and dubbed in English. The voices of the actors dubbing the Professor and his wife didn’t match with the look of the actors portraying them onscreen. I expected them to have entirely different speaking voices. Add to that the actor dubbing the professor wasn’t very good to begin with….his delivery was flat and I didn’t believe him. The film itself and its subject were uninteresting and dull. Zero toasts/boyfriends/girlfriends.

DOWNFALL: THE CASE AGAINST BOEING – Ron Howard produced this documentary offering a timeline and specific details which reveal exactly how and why two brand new 737 MAX airliners plummeted to the ground, killing all passengers and crew aboard. Spoiler alert – Corporate executives at Boeing who valued profit and stock prices above human life. It’s a despicable story which made me sick to my stomach. Kelly and Mike, too. (We come from an airline family) These suits intentionally didn’t inform pilots there was a new software system, MCAS, installed in the aircraft because they didn’t want to pay for additional pilot training. As a result, and with only seconds to react, the crew had no idea what was happening, or how to control the airplane, when the crisis occurred. After Boeing blamed the pilots for the first crash, questions began to surface about the safety of the plane. Still not admitting there could be a design flaw, Boeing began to train pilots in simulator. When the second mid-air crisis presented, pilots followed their Boeing training….and crashed anyway. That’s when the fleet was finally grounded. Pilots refused to fly the aircraft to their holding locations. As Federal investigative hearings dragged on, Boeing continued to blame flight crews, withhold documentation and deny any culpability for the safety breach of their aircraft. With devastated family members looking on, Capt. Sully said it best, “the crew was fighting for their lives in the fight of their lives. Pilots cannot be expected to compensate for a design flaw.” Cheers to the Feds, pilots and family members who fought Boeing, delivered the truth and kept the rest of us safe! Unanimous toasts from the peeps! Boyfriends/Girlfriends – 100s.

INVENTING ANNA – Who is Anna, you ask? Nobody knows, and everybody knows, depending on what she wants you to know. This chick bilked friends out of thousands of dollars, defrauded or attempted to defraud banks of much more and conned associates into doing her bidding, often treating them like dirt in the process. And yet, they came to care for her and in the end benefitted from her deceptions, one way or another. It’s fascinating. This NetFlix miniseries from Shonda Rimes is based on a piece written by journalist Jessica Pressler for New York Magazine about the exploits of Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey after she is finally arrested in 2017. Julia Garner delivers a decent performance as Anna, but her voice is excruciating – like nails on a chalkboard! The sound of it made me cringe and I didn’t think I would be able to watch the entire series because of it. But I couldn’t look away! The story is too mesmerizing. Plus it was fun to see so many familiar New York actors cast in supporting roles. I liked it. Cheers Annas – both of you! Boyfriends – 0; Girlfriends – 0.

MARE OF EASTTOWN – Dismal but interesting story of small town detective Mare Sheehan convincingly portrayed by Kate Winslet who is up for a SAG award for her performance. There are several mysteries to be solved during the course of this HBO miniseries, as well as a few surprising twists as residents of Easttown, PA, struggle through tragedy and hardship in their daily lives. Overall, the piece is a downer with only a handful of hopeful or comedic moments, but it is honest, and the work excellent. Most of the cast is British or American and unfamiliar with the specific dialect of Pennsylvania. Dana, Sandi and I agree they all capture it beautifully. The supporting cast includes Jean Smart (marvelous as Mare’s mother and also up for a SAG award), Evan Peters who does a great job playing drunk in one scene and many actors of color and maturity who give credibility to the makeup of the town. Three unanimous toasts! Cheers to the diversity, believability and brutal honesty of this piece. Boyfriends – 1; Girlfriends – 0.

CODA – Remarkable film depicting the experience of a deaf family in a hearing world. Impressive on so many levels. Deaf actors are cast in all the deaf roles. The work is outstanding. The story is unique and informative. Troy Kotsur who portrays Frank, the dad, is incredible. He is nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award for his performance and I will be voting for him. Linette and I both found him to be a stand-out. But it is impossible to single out one actor in such a unique piece. Eugenio Durbez who plays the teacher, Marlee Matlin (who is always top notch and plays the mom) and Emilia Jones as Ruby the daughter all shine in excellent performances. I don’t know if Emilia knew sign language at the outset of this project, or she had to learn it for this role, but she is completely convincing as the long-suffering daughter, and only hearing member of the family, who is relied upon as interpreter for the others. There is one powerful scene where we, the audience, briefly experience how it truly feels to be deaf in a hearing world. Even the scenes where the family is having conversations and disagreements typical in all families, but carried out in complete silence, had a profound impact on me. Packed with love, humor and heartache – this film is a must-see. Cheers to all involved in this project, deaf and hearing!! Unanimous toasts! Boyfriends – 1; Girlfriends – 1.

BELFAST – Written and directed by Kenneth Branagh, this film is a snapshot of a day in the life of folks living in Belfast during the extreme violence between the Catholics and Protestants in 1969. Gritty and raw, it tells this disturbing tale through the eyes of an 11-year old boy who lived it….that boy being Kenneth Branagh. The work is excellent, the cast superb and the cinematography outstanding. The scenes are short and to the point. The film opens in modern day Belfast in color and as the camera pans over a billboard, the film fades to black & white, transporting us back to 1969 and adding authenticity to what we are about to experience. And experience it we do. Immediately. We are plunged into the violence of the day, witnessing folks struggling to keep their families safe as they struggle to survive financially and emotionally within those families. We also witness the dichotomy of life continuing on a daily basis with some semblance of normality within the community. Many fled, many stayed, many died. Cheers to them all!! Unanimous toasts from the peeps! Boyfriends – 1; Girlfriends – 1.

GET BACK – Full disclosure…..all the peeps are Beatles fans – Mike and I being the most diehard of the bunch! So it is no surprise we all enjoyed this documentary of the fab four working in the studio back in 1969 as they prepared for a live performance or TV show or both. (They could never sort it out from one day to the next and only had a two-week window to put it together). Eventually the live performance would become the famous rooftop concert in London, there would be no TV show and many of the recordings would become part of the “Let it Be” album. There is so much to love about this 3-part series if you are a Beatles fan, and so much to discover if you are not. Mike and I felt like a fly on the wall watching these sessions, witnessing the true relationships between these four men, both personally and professionally. The biggest surprise for me was the love and humor of their brothers’ bond which is evident throughout, despite their frustration and resentment as they struggled to keep the band together and on task. Watching them work, seeing how they collaborated to make a song come to life and how they would playfully blow off steam as a respite from a creative block was fascinating. Unexpected gems are revealed in this peek into the late 1960s – the fashions (which Darlene and I loved), the archaic recording equipment and the free flowing cigarettes & alcohol. I enjoyed seeing the wives/girlfriends/kids visiting the studio and interacting with the guys. (Just an aside – Yoko comes off much better in this than her reputation at the time) One of my favorite parts was seeing the Beatles check out the newspaper articles written about them. One of them would bring in an article and read it to the others, and they would all have a good laugh at the lies being printed or comment on the information being broadcast by the press. The documentary wraps up with the entire rooftop concert cleverly presented in real time with a split screen. This enables us to see exactly what was happening on the roof, in the streets and by the cops simultaneously. It’s ingenious. It was interesting to learn the two surviving Beatles and the widows of the other two are all producers on this project. Also interesting is the excitement the Beatles continue to generate among younger folks. Linette’s son binged the whole series and then went out and bought all of the Beatles’ CDs. Incredible! As for me, the overall viewing experience was bittersweet. Because in the end, I was left with sadness. Sadness that the guys couldn’t hold the band together, sadness that so many of the folks in this documentary are dead, sadness that we won’t pass this way again. Still I’m grateful for the trip. Unanimous toasts!!! Cheers Lads! Boyfriends – 4 of course, plus 1 more; Girlfriends – 0.

NIGHTMARE ALLEY – Bradley Cooper delivers a riveting performance in this intense, disturbing film based on the novel by William Lindsay Gresham. With it’s all-star line-up of Willem Dafoe, Cate Blanchett and Richard Jenkins, we are thrust into the dark abyss of the dregs of society and charlatans who cruelly prey upon folks desperate for relief from despair, pain and sorrow. Despite the heartbreaking (and often sickening) journey we travel with these characters, Darlene and I both liked this picture. There is a definite “film-noir” feel to it and the cinematography is outstanding. And it’s always a plus when a storyline surprises me – the twist at the end was both an ideal resolution and completely unexpected. Top-notch work! Two toasts. Cheers! Boyfriends – 1; Girlfriends – 0.