Tag / Brie Larson

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2023: The Year In Television

With less and less good productions airing on network and cable and moving to the various streaming platforms, that seems to have taken over as my main form of television watching. Now that I work from home full time, I have plenty of time to take in whatever they have to offer. Since we cover the network and cable shows that I watch elsewhere, let’s take a look at the 23 seasons of shows I streamed on eight different platforms this year.

Black Mirror Season Six (Netflix)
The British anthology returns with a five-episode season that started strong, with one of the best episodes of the show’s run, but ended poorly.

Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 16 (Paramount+)
The BAU returns, minus a few key resources, to hunt down the most prolific serial killer they’ve ever faced.

Daisy Jones & The Six (Amazon Prime)
Based on the book by Taylor Jenkins Reid, it is the tale of how a garage band from Pittsburgh morphed into the biggest band in the world, and then how it all blew up.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Seasons 6-7 (Netflix)
The Legends see their travels through time and space come to an end.

Dead to Me Season Three (Netflix)
Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini return for one last go-around.

Doctor Who Specials (Disney+)
David Tennant returns and helps Ncuti Gatwa usher in a new era for Doctor Who.

The Flash Season Nine (Netflix)
The show, and the CW’s Arrowverse, winds down with one final go-around.

The Flight Attendant Season Two (HBO Max)
Kaley Cuoco returns for another go-around as the alcoholic flight attendant who also works for the CIA.

Ginny & Georgia Seasons 1-2 (Netflix)
Imagine Gilmore Girls if Lorelai came from nothing and was somewhat amoral and Rory was bi-racial.

How I Met Your Father Season 2 (Hulu)
The second and final season leaves us hanging as to who the father would have been.

The Last Thing He Told Me (Apple TV+)
Jennifer Garner stars in the adaptation of the Laura Dave novel. Continue reading →

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Book 30 (of 52) – Lessons In Chemistry

Lessons in Chemistry – Bonnie Garmus

A headstrong woman, with a masters in chemistry, finds it hard to be taken seriously in the world of science in the 1950s.  When her life partner dies unexpectedly, she finds herself alone, pregnant, and jobless.  While trying to find a new path, she unexpectedly finds herself on television, teaching cooking through chemistry, and becomes something of a celebrity.  Meanwhile, her daughter and neighbor start to bring together a found family to replace the one she never had.

Bonnie Garmus’ debut novel, Lessons in Chemistry, won the 2022 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Debut Novel and was a nominee for Best Historical Fiction, which explains how it would up on my list of books to read.  I’ll confess that this really wasn’t my type of book, as I kept waiting for something to happen, but it just told a story of how women were treated by society in the not-so-distant past.  An adaptation for Apple TV+ is due this fall, with Brie Larson taking on the role of Elizabeth Zott, which I think will be a better medium for this particular tale.  At least for me.

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2019: The Year In Movies

Movie_Reel_22

The return of my annual long December vacation, with very little to do otherwise, saw a big increase in movie watching for me, with my highest total since 2011.  I managed to watch 89 movies last year, my eighth consecutive year under 100.  Again, many things contributed to this, chiefly the insane amount of TV I’ve been watching, the greater effort made towards going out for walks, and the awful amount of time I spend either at work or getting to and from work.

Here’s a look back at the first 50 movies I did manage to watch last year and what recollection, if any, I have of them. The films are listed in the order I saw them.

Life Of The Party (2018)
Melissa McCarthy joins her daughter at college after her husband leaves her.

The Haunted Mansion (2003)
Eddie Murphy tackles a movie based on the Disneyland ride.

Downsizing (2017)
Matt Damon shrinks himself to 5 inches tall, gaining wealth but losing a wife.

Knight And Day (2010)
A young woman gets mixed up with a disgraced spy who is trying to clear his name.

Keep Watching (2017)
A gang of intruders takes a family hostage and forces them to play a game.

The Space Between Us (2017)
The first human born on Mars heads to Earth to find his long-distance crush, even if it will kill him.

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)
A choose-your-own-adventure film about a young kid trying to make it in the video game industry.

Bird Box (2018)
A woman tries to save her two children in a world where seeing things leads to death.

Hereditary (2018)
A grieving family is haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences.

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
Aliens take over the human race. Continue reading →

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And The Academy Award Goes To…

side_oscarAs they finish polishing up the statues for Sunday’s awards ceremony, it’s time to finish up our predictions, which are based on not having seen any of the nominated films, with a look at the acting categories and the big one:

Best Picture

The Big Short
Bridge Of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Spotlight

Having seen none of these films, I don’t have any real idea of which should win.  I’m going to go with Spotlight for no particular reason.

Best Actor

Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
Matt Damon, The Martian
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

It seems that this is Leonardo DiCaprio’s year to take home his first Oscar.

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Carol
Brie Larson, Room
Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

As a fan of Brie Larson, I’m hoping that she’ll take home this award.

Continue reading →

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2014: The Year In Movies Part 2

Movie_Reel_22134 different people starred in the movies I saw last year (starring in being the first two named stars, a tradition dating back to the old Chicago Tribune TV guide), and a whopping 16 of them were in more than 1. Those 16 thespians are:

Name Films
Emily Blunt 3
Scarlett Johansson 3
Liam Neeson 3
Shailene Woodley 3
Kristen Bell 2
Lake Bell 2
Sandra Bullock 2
Bradley Cooper 2
Rob Corddry 2
Melissa McCarthy 2
Julianne Moore 2
Elizabeth Olsen 2
Chris Pratt 2
Jason Segel 2
Amanda Seyfried 2
Bruce Willis 2

Now let’s take a look at the remaining movies that I saw in 2014, following up on Tuesday’s post.

Her (2013)
Joaquin Phoenix falls in love with an operating system, and lives in a world where that isn’t considered odd.

Oculus (2014)
Karen Gillan stars in this horror tale about a mirror that makes its owners kill themselves and their loved ones.

Under The Skin (2013)
I’m sure some film buff will tell you that there was something worthwhile here, besides Scarlett Johansson’s first nude scenes, but I certainly didn’t get it.

Delivery Man (2013)
What would happen if a sperm bank oversold one man’s donations, leaving him the biological father of over 500 children?

X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)
This adaptation of Chris Claremont’s famous storyline mixes the casts of the old films and the new ones to great effect.

Liars All (2013)
Continue reading →