THE GREAT – Not exactly great, but decent. Elle Fanning stars as the Empress Herself in this whimsical, highly fictional tale of Catherine the Great’s rise to power in Russia. Off-beat, sometimes disgusting, occasionally funny, this series on Hulu is indeed a departure from the typical show. Worth a look if you’re seeking something outside the boundaries of common historical fiction pieces, but not for everyone. No toasts. Boyfriends – 0; Girlfriends – 0.

THE CABLE GIRLS – Super soapy Spanish melodrama, dubbed in English with the requisite good-looking cast, tiresome repetitive dialogue and nonsensical storylines – some of which are quietly shelved with no resolution (as if we’re not supposed to notice!) There are a few disturbing domestic violence scenes and endless smoking. Still, I enjoy watching….in small doses. (It’s six seasons long so this could take awhile) Centered around the friendship and exploits of five telephone operators in 1920s Madrid, the old-time switchboard is fascinating. (My grandmother was a cable girl during it’s heyday) I revel in the wardrobe and hairstyles of the time period, and the hats!! Oh how I love the hats! I suspect this piece appeals to a select audience of which I am one. Cheers! Boyfriends – 1; Girlfriends – 1.

LICORICE PIZZA – A pointless, uninteresting film depicting teenage life in Los Angeles in the ’70s. And it’s long….2 hours and 15 minutes. I fell asleep for half an hour near the end. On the positive side, it was interesting to see Philip Seymour Hoffman’s son in the lead role, Leo DiCaprio’s dad in a cameo and Bradley Cooper in a lesser supporting role. Bradley’s performance is priceless and worthy of an Oscar nomination, but it’s not enough to warrant sitting through this film. Michael liked the movie a lot. He found it’s quirky, off-beat story engaging. He says all of Paul Thomas Anderson’s pictures leave the audience saying WTF and that appeals to him. Perhaps our opposite reactions have more to do with Mike being a 20-something and me being…….older. He liked Sean Penn’s work as a narcissistic movie star. He enjoyed the lead girl and her real life family playing her on-screen family (apparently she and her sisters are in a band he is quite familiar with). And, as we were reading the credits, we discovered one of Stephen Spielberg’s daughters played a small role as well. The only two things we agreed on are Bradley Cooper stealing the film and Licorice Pizza is not a good title. Toast from Mike, none from me. Boyfriends – 1 (me); Girlfriends – 0.

HIGH SEAS – Take Murder on the Orient Express, swap the train for a luxury liner, throw in a healthy dose of soap opera and voila – High Seas. Filmed in Spanish and dubbed in English, this NetFlix series includes all of the usual suspects, a good-looking cast and great 1940s wardrobe. It’s a fun who-dun-it romp until season three. Then the plot becomes ludicrous (even by soap opera standards). There are other flaws as well. Every dilemma is somehow easily resolved. And I never believed the characters were really on a ship in the middle of the ocean. It always looked like a Hollywood set with a fake sea and little movement of the ship upon the swells. Even during storm scenes the ship seems like a toy replica in a tank full of water instead of the real deal… which I’m sure it was, but it’s not supposed to look that way. All plot lines are neatly wrapped up by the end of season three, and overall, I liked it. But I wouldn’t have hung around for a season four. Cheers! No toasts, boyfriends or girlfriends for me, but there are plenty on board.

THE TINDER SWINDLER – after watching this documentary and Inventing Anna, I am perplexed! How is it these imposters are repeatedly able to con so many folks out of such huge amounts of cash? I would really like to understand the psychology behind this deception from the victim’s point of view. I can’t imagine myself ever being in the position. But I digress. This documentary chronicles the plight of three women who met Simon Leviev on Tinder, were deceived by him in the exact same fashion, and lost everything. There are many more, and not just women. One of these three was finally able to bring Simon down, after partnering with the other two, the police, journalists and social media. Sadly, his detention was only a quick blip on the radar. He’s now back on Tinder and living the high life once again, probably using the same fraudster tools in his dupery wheelhouse. This saga features the actual participants – no actors. No toasts, no boyfriends or girlfriends.

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.