OUTLANDER 5 – Frannie and I are settling in with our wee drams for the season 5 premiere of our favorite show. Beautiful music as always underscoring themes and characters. Happy to see they inserted some necessary major story events that were omitted last season. Case in point – the gathering on the ridge where Roger pledges “the Mackenzies of the Ridge are here.” This piece ended book 4 and needed to be included. This was incorporated into the fiery cross scene, but it accomplished the same goal and worked well, particularly when Roger knew the words of the fealty oath by heart. Many great moments that touch our hearts and make Outlander endearing – Jamie fastening his mother’s pearls around Brianna’s neck, Jamie & Claire remembering their own vows during the wedding, Jamie’s heartbreak at banishing Murtaugh to keep him safe. As for Murtaugh, there’s no chemistry between he and Jocasta. Frannie was also bothered by the big house. She said it’s not realistic of a home being built in the wilderness in the late 1700s. She also disliked the tents on the property. She felt they would be more like lean-tos and instead looked like an army encampment. I agree with that, but the big house worked fine for me. Regardless Outlander continues to be our favorite show. And on the boyfriend meter – always one (not the one you think) and usually several more, like in last night’s episode. So we raise our glasses as always. Cheers…..or as we Scots and Irish say, slainte!!

JOJO RABBIT – Okay all the peeps are together for this one, and we all agree it is a remarkable film. Humor, humanity and one extremely powerful scene where we all gasped in unison. The kid playing JoJo was great. So was the kid playing his friend. Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson were wonderful as always – both their characters are likable and funny. The actor playing Hitler did an excellent job providing the comic relief. Mike says he wrote and directed the film, too. Kudos! I especially enjoyed the scene where Scarlett’s character, Rose, pretends to be herself and her husband conversing to help JoJo deal with his father’s absence (he’s away fighting the Nazi’s). Two clever, powerful threads in the storyline – dancing and shoe-tying. A unanimous toast to this film. Cheers!

LOCKE & KEY – A Netflix original based on a graphic novel. It’s an engaging supernatural story involving magical keys. I find it different and refreshing. So far I haven’t been able to look away and I’m almost done with the season. There are other shows I need to view but find myself returning to this one instead. Speaks volumes. Strong performances by most of the cast. Two things bothered me. One was, after just moving to a place they know no one, the kids attend their first day of school and boom…the son is on the hockey team and the daughter knows where her locker is (and apparently the combination). The other was high schoolers chugging shots or taking endless swigs of straight liquor out of bottles without appearing the least bit inebriated. Pretty sure they’d be feeling it quickly. That said……Cheers!

DUBLIN MURDERS – Based upon the Squad book series by Tana French. Intriguing story and performances. The storylines are complicated, and I still don’t understand some of the plot and relationships. Case in point – the Cassie/Lexie characters. My sister Dana and I are still trying to figure out if Lexie is imaginary or real. And if she’s real, she would have to be a twin, but apparently she’s not? It makes no sense either way within the script. I was expecting all to be explained before the season ended abruptly and too soon. It wasn’t. At least not to my satisfaction. It also annoyed me that Adam’s background was revealed in such painstakingly slow dollops. Despite this, it’s interesting storytelling and I looked forward to this show every week. I also enjoy listening to the Irish brogue, although occasionally I miss a word. (And it’s helpful to practice accent proficiency) Boyfriend/girlfriend meter – one of each! Slainte!

THE KOMINSKY METHOD – Fran and H. laughed their asses off during this series (and we hadn’t even toasted yet). It truly captures the challenges of aging with honesty and humor. Michael Douglas & Alan Arkin are great together. I kept looking at Kathleen Turner as Michael’s ex-wife and thinking “is that Kathleen Turner?” I had to wait for confirmation in the credits to be sure. Ingenious casting based on their movie history together. I kept seeing them in War of the Roses (which made it even funnier). Lots of well known guest stars frequent the series. I always like to see older actors are still working (inspires me), particularly in quality productions. The best thing about this series for me personally is it takes me home and back to my prior life in Hollywood. I enjoy seeing LA and familiar places. Michael Douglas’s character in particular is close to my heart because he reminds me so much of my acting coach, both in looks and demeanor. Even his acting studio is almost identical to my coach’s. No boyfriends or girlfriends in this one, but another honest look at the industry and relationships. Cheers!

THE MAGICIANS – I happened upon this show on a whim. I discovered a delightful fantasy adventure which immediately engaged me. Based upon the book series by Lev Grossman (who I’d never heard of), it’s sort of a Harry Potter goes to college aimed at a millennial demographic. For me it has everything. Magic, fantasy, beautiful & talented ensemble cast, good vs. evil storyline, and the power of loyalty, friendship and teamwork. There are lots of references to iconic films/tv/music and the stars thereof (which I always enjoy), but you have to listen closely because the dialogue is often fast-paced. The cast also sing a contemporary song together in various episodes which sounds weird but is actually interesting. Plus they have excellent voices and the song choices compliment the emotion in the scene. The character of Margo is my favorite. She is brash, bawdy, beautiful and funny. I laugh out loud at many of her lines. She also reminds me of one of my colleagues so that may be an additional point in her favor. On the boyfriend meter, I have two on this show, and one girlfriend (Margo of course). The chemistry between Margo and Elliot is undeniable. I love watching them together and always look forward to their scenes. There is a shocking twist at the end of the most recent season (4) which broke my heart. There is a season 5 airing soon, but I think (sadly) the dynamic may now be dramatically altered from the original appeal. I recently overheard two 70-something men talking about the show. It made me smile because they seemed an unlikely audience for this story and its format. Instead, they were incredibly enthusiastic about it and enjoy it very much. And so, cocktail peep or no, they made it into the blog.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD – I liked this film. I always enjoy love letters to my home town (LA) and show business which I’ve worked in for 35 years. Performances were strong, story was interesting, Brad looked great when he took off his shirt, Brandy the dog stole the show. It was an honest portrayal of what actors and crew endure behind the scenes on sets. There was also a lot of humor included which made me laugh out loud. I also enjoyed all the references to 1960s TV shows/music I grew up with. My chief complaint was it was too long. Scenes could have been shortened or eliminated to reduce the time and still packed the same punch. Particularly the Sharon Tate scenes in the movie theatre watching her films. My son, Mike, loved this. He feels Tarantino is portraying a day in the life for every character and this was Sharon’s. Of course, he’s a Tarantino fan so he may be a bit biased. He does agree it was slow moving. He loved the film overall and agrees the casting was excellent. My friend Francine didn’t like it all. But honestly, I think it was too much wine that put her to sleep.